


pick up the pace

by CMQ31



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Drama, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Minor EunHae, Minor Krisho, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-02-01 08:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12701460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CMQ31/pseuds/CMQ31
Summary: Choi Minho is a freshman who's been crushing on the former student council president, Lee Jinki.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is kinda...old-ish. I wrote it earlier this year and posted it on aff around August. I was reluctant to continue it bc my opinions on some characters and pairings have changed. Just reassuring; it's none of the main pairings/cast. 
> 
> I've already written up to 8 chapters and chapter 9 is in progress. I'm going to post up to chapter 8 every 2 days.
> 
> Anyways, some of these situations are just me venting about my awful love life:/ so its sort of a vent fic, but some things didnt happen lmao 
> 
> So enjoy!

Minho first noticed Lee Jinki during his first year in high school. Jinki had been the student council president who greeted the freshmen warmly with that smile of his. Despite his kindness, he was well respected and somewhat feared by his peers and freshmen. To Minho, everything about Jinki was elegant; his mannerisms, his appearance, the way he spoke, his laugh...Minho found those little things attractive.

 

Minho would never forget the day he first spoke to Jinki personally. It was still hard to believe that Jinki was the one to initiate the conversation instead of Minho.

 

Minho had been wandering the whole school looking for his class. He didn't have the energy to ask the other freshmen, as they seemed very engaged with their own conversations. In situations like these, Minho would just smile and join in their conversations. He was a social butterfly after all. Everyone in middle school liked him. There was no reason to hate Choi Minho. Despite being the younger brother of Choi Siwon, who could be an ass sometimes, he and Minho were generally liked by most people.

 

However, it sucked that towards the end of 9th grade, he wasn't able to befriend freshmen. He overheard gossips that he apparently was a 'cruel playboy jock who bullies nerds and breaks people's hearts' in the eyes of many freshmen. Seriously, what was that? Some fan fiction trope? Minho found it unbelievably stupid that someone would actually believe bullshit like that.  Siwon only laughed at him when Minho complained about it.

 

Seeing Lee Jinki, student council president of his school, approach the awkward beanpole of a football-loving-fuck Choi MInho must be some sort of hallucination. Minho was sure he wasn't on some sort of drug when he went to school.

 

"Hey, aren't you Siwon-hyung's brother?" Minho turned around to meet the owner of the voice.

 

The voice belonged to none other than Lee Jinki.

 

'Hyung? They must've been close...' Minho thought. Though all thoughts in his head abruptly blanked out after seeing the smile on the senior's face. Minho felt his jaw drop a little and quickly recovered from it.

 

Minho greeted his senior before answering his question. "Uh, yea."

 

Minho mentally face palmed for his half-assed answer. 'Good job, Choi. Way to sound interested...' he thought to himself. 

 

Minho felt his face go red when Jinki suddenly laughed. "You're just as awkward as he was!"

 

Minho prayed for the floor to swallow him right there.

 

Jinki noticed Minho's discomfort. His face twisted in concern. "Sorry, did I go too far there?"

 

"..." Truly, Minho could not even form words with his mouth as Jinki leaned a little too close for his liking.

 

"Hey Jinki! Tiffany said Henry was looking for you!" the loud voice of Kim Minseok broke the silence.

 

Jinki scowls and rolls his eyes-- which was a rare sight, really. Jinki turned to meet his peer's grinning face.

 

"I'm in the middle of something, Minseok!" Jinki says to him.

 

Minseok laughs, "sure, sure. Don't stare at him for too long though! You both looked like you were-"

 

"Yah!" Jinki jokingly trapped Minseok in a headlock. The latter laughed as Jinki messed his hair up.

 

Minho did not understand the relationship between Jinki and the other third year student Kim Minseok, but he certainly wasn't enjoying the closeness between them.

 

No, what the hell was he thinking just now?

 

Minseok grins and waves a half-assed goodbye to both Jinki and Minho before walking away.

 

Jinki noticed the freshmen before him ducking his head even more, which made Jinki raise a brow at his action.

 

Meanwhile, Minho felt like dying at the moment.

 

Jinki turned to follow Minseok when the latter yelled at him to hurry up. Though before he got too far, he turned back to Minho.

 

"I didn't catch your name."

 

"It's Minho."

 

Jinki smiled at him one last time before turning away.

 

Minho felt his knees turn to jelly as Jinki's smile became permanently carved into his mind.

 

**

 

"You're staring at him again, pal." Minho was snapped out of his thoughts as he turned to glare at Yixing. Yixing raised a brow, "what?"

 

Minho shook his head, "it's nothing."

 

"You do know you'll be getting nowhere with him if all you do is just stare at him with those googly eyes of yours," Yixing continued.

 

Minho rolled his eyes, "Oh geez. I didn't know that." 

 

Yixing narrowed his eyes at him. "...Like I was saying, either you make a move right now, or I swear someone else will."

 

Minho's eyes widened, "you wouldn't dare..."

 

Yixing threw a piece of spinach at him, to which Minho quickly avoided. "Do not imply such things. Jinki isn't and will never be my type."

 

"You didn't have to fling a fucking spinach at me!"

 

Yixing ignored Minho, "besides, I have my eyes on someone _our_ age and isn't the school council president. Less troublesome, no?"

 

"But Junmyeon's a 2nd year and rumors say he's dating Kris Wu," Minho smirks when he saw Yixing frown a little. "Nah, I'm kidding. But I heard he had something with him a while ago."

 

"'A while ago' meaning in a span of a month? " Yixing pointed at Minho with a fork. Minho shrugged in reply.

 

"Well they have been in this school for a year longer than us, so no, not in the span of a month. They've probably had history way before. That's what rumors say anyway." Yixing shook his head.

 

"I guess we're both hopeless failures," he says dramatically before hiding his face within his arms.

 

Minho laughs, "nah, just you." Yixing rolls his eyes, but Minho's ego was getting the best of him that moment, "But mark my words, before Jinki graduates, I'll ask him out. Or have him ask me out," Minho says confidently.

 

Yixing immediately rose from his position with a grin. "What if you fail?"

 

"I won't," Minho replies confidently.  Who would reject Choi Minho? But for a second thought, Minho was basically no one in this school. He was glad he found someone as dorky as he was in the name Zhang Yixing, although, Byun Baekhyun from class 1-A came quite close. It was unfortunate that the latter was infatuated with a senior whose name he wouldn't reveal. Baekhyun rarely joined them during lunch because of that.

 

Speak of the devil, the short teen came dashing towards their table with a worried look on his face. Minho and Yixing forgot about their previous conversation and their attentions turned to the younger boy.

 

"You seem as if you just ran a marathon..." Minho comments.

 

Baekhyun wiped his swipe, "what if I told you I practically like, just did!?" Baekhyun grabs Yixing's water bottle and finishes all of its content in one go, earning a frown from his slightly older friend. After feeling refreshed, Baekhyun continues to talk, "why did no one tell me that Kris Wu was dating Kim Junmyeon? I swear, Junmyeon looked like he was about to claw my eyes out!" he yells, loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear. Yixing hid his face in his hands, whether he was dying of embarrassment or crying over the fact that his crush was indeed taken.

 

Minho's eyes widened, "dude! What the hell did you do!?" he whisper shouted after placing his hand over Baekhyun's loud mouth.

 

Baekhyun slapped his arm away. "Well, you know...I may have kissed him a bit?"

 

"But why were you running?" Minho inquired.

 

"...I kissed him in front of his boyfriend?" He says sheepishly, looking guilty over his own action.

 

Minho slapped his hand over his face while Yixing came back from hiding. "Baekhyun! What the hell!?"

 

Baekhyun buried his face in his arms. "I knooooow! I know what I did was wrong! But his face was...so close to mine! He had that look and my heart took over instead of my brain!"

 

Before Minho could add anything, his heart stopped at the sight of Jinki and another student council member walk towards them. Baekhyun immediately straightened up and Yixing as well. Minho's eyes never left Jinki's face, instead of his usual smile, he had a cute frown instead-- according to Minho anyway. Despite that, he still appeared as a dignified person.

 

"Byun Baekhyun, were you running through the halls just now?" Jinki questions him. The look on Baekhyun's face screamed 'are you kidding me this isn't elementary school what'.  Despite that, Baekhyun forced all of his disbelief within him and answered his senior.

 

"Yes I was."

 

"Apparently you ran into Mr. Shim without apologizing. He requested me to call you to see him after school," the other student council member spoke. Jinki's frown faltered and was replaced with a small smirk as was the other student. Baekhyun scowled.

 

"Are you kidding me..." he muttered to himself.

 

Jinki chuckles, "Mr. Shim does not 'kid' unfortunately." Jinki turned and noticed Minho staring at him, causing the older teen to lose his cool immediately. Minho noticed the change in Jinki's face before turning red and looked away. He didn't realize that he had been staring at Jinki for too long.

 

The other senior laughed, "h-holy shit. You guys looked so scared just now! I'm so gonna miss this once we're no longer part of the student council!"

 

Jinki elbowed him, causing the latter to wince in pain. "Jonghyun, shut up. We do not condone seniority in this school."

 

"Speak for yourself Jinki, I know you enjoyed scaring the freshmen last year," Jonghyun retorted.

 

"That was once."

 

Jinki spotted the amused look on Minho's face. The younger was seen with a small grin plastered on his face, to which Jinki found endearing. He wanted to do nothing but pinch his cheeks at the moment.

 

"I'll be going now, catch you later, Jinki, Baekhyun, first years." With that, Jonghyun turned around and walked away to bother another first year.

 

"Ignore him, he's always wanted this much power over...freshmen. He didn't have the best experience with seniors," Jinki spoke bitterly. His eyes roamed over the wide-eyed freshmen, though he caught Minho's gaze. Minho immediately looked away and awkwardly coughed.

 

"Nice to see you again, Minho. How's Siwon-hyung doing?" Jinki asks him.

 

Minho ducked his head a bit. "He's doing fine," he replies.

 

"Could you give me his new number? I think he may have changed it and I hadn't been able to contact him..." Jinki says. Minho nods and pulled out his phone, opening his contacts and was about to show it Jinki until the older stopped him.

 

"Just text me later, I don't have my phone with me right now. Here, let me give you my number," Jinki grabbed Minho's phone and typed down his number.

 

Yixing and Baekhyun looked between Minho's reaction and Jinki's face, clearly amused with the situation. Minho was gaping like a fish and stared at Jinki as if he was some sort of miracle from God. But then again, Jinki is a miracle.

 

Jinki smiled to himself, proud that his plan to receive Minho's contact - in a way- succeeded. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but Jonghyun, but he had grown somewhat infatuated with Choi Minho. Minho may be a sports maniac, but he wasn't some ridiculous thickheaded jock like in the movies. There was something about Minho that Jinki liked, though he was unable to describe the feeling. Sure he was attracted to Minho, but he felt like it was no sexual or romantic attraction.

 

Jinki had never been good with feelings anyway.

 

Jinki returned the phone to Minho before smiling and walking away, feeling accomplished.

 

He would need to celebrate with Jonghyun afterwards. 

 

"Holy-"

 

"-Fuck"

 

Minho turned to his friends who both had amused and excited looks. Minho unconsciously blushed and looked away, biting his lip.

 

"You're adorable, Choi, blushing like a little high school kid with a crush on their senio- oh wait," Baekhyun giggles.

 

"Yeah, good luck with Mr. Shim and Kim Junmyeon later." With that, Baekhyun's smile falters and turned into an annoyed look.

 

**

 

By the end of the second month of school, Jinki's title as a student council president had been passed down to Kim Junmyeon, much to Baekhyun's displeasure.  Ever since the day Minho had received Jinki's phone number, the two had been talking non-stop.  

 

Yixing eyed Minho happily texting away on his phone, a smile on his face.  The older teen sighs loudly.

 

"Is Jinki really that interesting to talk with? No offense, but he seems like someone with a stick up his ass all day," Yixing bluntly comments, looking bored while poking his vegetables.

 

Minho looked offended, "how could you think that? Jinki's cool. He's a really nice guy. He's..." Minho ran out of words to describe him, "he's a sweet guy."

 

Yixing's scowl broke into a grin. "Now that's just sweet. Our little Minho has a crush."

 

Baekhyun coos sarcastically while keeping his eyes glued to Kris, who was happily talking to his boyfriend, Junmyeon. Junmyeon would occasionally glare back at Baekhyun before continuing his mushy conversation with Kris. "Those two make me sick."

 

"You're just jealous, Baek."

 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, "I can't believe you got over your crush on Junmyeon that quick. It's as if you've never even liked him in the first place."

 

"I still do. Just less salty about it and more accepting that he's in a relationship," Yixing answers bitterly. He sat still for a while before letting out a moan. "God, I really need a cig right now..." he groans.

 

Minho raises a brow, "why? You don't even smoke, Yixing."

 

Yixing waves him off, "Junmyeon, family situation, etcetera...it's taking a toll on me. It's the only thing that makes me feel better." Silence took over the table as Yixing's mood suddenly dropped, Minho was confused, and Baekhyun scoffs over the sulking Yixing and clueless Minho.

 

Baekhyun whistles, "well this took a turn."

 

Minho frowns at that, not noticing the way Jinki had been staring at him from the table next to his. Jinki had been eavesdropping their conversations for a long time, and for some reason, neither of the three had noticed that yet. He turned to see his friends on his table. There was Jonghyun and Henry talking about some Kpop group they like, Minseok and Luhan talking about soccer, and Hyoyeon and Sooyoung chatting away about the upcoming school festival. He didn't notice Yuri paying close attention to him.

 

"What's up?" she asks Jinki. Jinki glanced at her but went back to staring at Minho. Yuri followed his gaze, which landed on a first year. "Isn't that Siwon-oppa's younger brother?" Yuri frowned in disgust as the name left her mouth.

 

"Yeah..." Jinki absentmindedly answered.

 

Yuri looks at Jinki then at Minho, then back to Jinki. "You know, you've been staring at him for a while. He's bound to notice with you being not subtle at all with the staring."

 

Jinki turns to glare at Yuri, "shut up. I'm not staring at him."

 

Yuri smirks, "do you have a...crush on him perhaps?"

 

Jinki's eyes widened as Yuri's statement grabbed the attention of everyone on the table. Jonghyun gave Jinki a knowing smirk as Jinki helplessly watched his curious friends probe at him.

 

"What the shit, who's the lucky person?" Minseok blurts.

 

"Is it a first year? I didn't take you to be a cradle robber, Jinki." Sooyoung spoke in disbelief.

 

"What? No!" Jinki was taken aback at such accusation.

 

"I never thought you'd be into younger people, honestly. You strike me as a noona-lover," Luhan comments.

 

Jinki cradled his face in his palms. Yuri shushed the rest of the table before turning back to Jinki.

 

"You do know Siwon isn't fond of you," Yuri reminded him.

 

Jinki nods, "I'm well aware of that."

 

"Wait, you like Siwon-hyung?" Henry piped in, earning a hit on the head from Hyoyeon and glares from the rest of the table. "Ow! Yeah, yeah, sorry, I know their situation! No need to hit me..."

 

"It's the younger Choi. Choi Minho," Jonghyun not so helpfully added. Jinki groans even louder when his friends' eyes widened in disbelief.

 

"Good luck with that, Jinki. With you and Siwon-hyung's situation, I doubt he would allow you to date his younger brother," Luhan says apologetically with a hint of distaste, to which Minseok nods at.

 

"I don't like Minho," Jinki states a bit too loud. He hoped that no one outside their table heard that. His friends stopped talking and waited for Jinki to say something else. "I mean I'm not romantically interested in him." His friends stopped teasing Jinki and believed his words, though Jonghyun eyed Jinki suspiciously. "So can we please drop it?" Jinki pleaded.

 

He was unaware of Minho standing up and leaving the cafeteria with Yixing and Baekhyun calling after him.

 

Jinki's words rang in his head as he felt the pain rushing through him.

 

Minho spent the rest of the afternoon locking himself in a cubicle in the men's bathroom with a panic attack. Yixing's soothing voice from the other side was the only thing keeping him from hyperventilating so bad.

 

Rejection felt terrible.

 

He didn't like it.

 

After school, Minho spotted Jinki talking to Jonghyun. Jonghyun was frowning and looked somewhat mad, while Jinki seemed exasperated and worried. Minho tells himself to keep walking and ignore them. Though his plan was foiled when Jinki left Jonghyun and tapped on his shoulder.

 

Minho froze as he felt the pain from earlier surging through his arms. He unconsciously grabbed on to his right arm as an instinct.

 

"Minho. It's been a while," Jinki smiles. Minho looks down. The more he heard his voice and saw his smile, the more he felt confused with himself. The sense of secureness and comfort Jinki gave off was too good for Minho. It felt as if Jinki is welcoming him with open arms, though in reality, it was nothing beyond a senior-junior friendship.

 

Minho didn't understand why he had to fall for Jinki of all people.

 

"Jinki-"

 

"Call me hyung, if you'd like," Jinki cuts in. Minho bit his lower lip, unsure what to reply. How could Jinki act like this after what he had said earlier?

 

"Okay...hyung."

 

Jinki grins, "I was wondering why you haven't been texting me back. I mean, I'm not pressuring you to answer me or anything...but leaving me on read is kinda...?"

 

Minho's eyes widened. Since when did Jinki ever texted him? He pulled his phone out to see that Jinki had indeed sent him a message a week ago. Though Minho never remembered receiving said text. "Ah...I'm sorry, hyung. I forgot to er, reply."

 

"Don't worry about it, man."

 

Minho frowns. Jinki was treating him more and more as a regular friend and he suddenly didn't feel so special anymore. He felt Jinki hit his back a bit too hard, "I'll be seeing you around, Minho-ssi. Tell Siwon-hyung I said hi, okay?" With that, Jinki left.

 

Minho was still hurt over Jinki's words from earlier, but the softness and gentleness of his voice made Minho forgive him instantly. He still felt Jinki's touch on his back linger.

 

Jonghyun stared at Minho's awed expression from afar. He felt guilty not being able to tell Minho Jinki's intentions with befriending him. He felt his heart sink seeing Minho suddenly grin and walk happily with his friends. His friends were surprised with Minho's change of mood, but they went on anyways.

 

Jonghyun turned around with the feeling of guilt starting to consume his heart.


	2. two

Minho was on his way home when he spotted Jinki crowded by a bunch of girls. He chuckled at the sight of a flustered and panicked-looking Jinki, awkwardly maneuvering his way from them. The girls were 2nd year students who are part of the student council. They seem to be asking for something from Jinki, but Minho, however, did not care, as he was too busy staring at Jinki's face.

 

Jinki catches Minho's gaze on him and the feeling of relief washed over him. He excused himself from the girls and rushes over to Minho. Minho had to blink twice to realize Jinki was running towards him in full speed. The older crashes into Minho while slinging an arm over his shoulder. Jinki forces Minho to walk away with him. In the meantime, Minho was gaping and flushing red and was still unable to grasp on what was happening to him.

 

"Thank God you're here, Minho-ssi!" Jinki nervously grins up to him. Minho realizes that he had grown a lot taller than Jinki, though he was still skinny compared to the older. After they've gone far enough, Jinki lets his arm fall from Minho's shoulder, brushing his backside for a bit, causing Minho to tense. "C'mon, let's walk home together, I know where you live anyway."

 

"Uh...what happened there?" Minho awkwardly asks.

 

"They just wanted a picture with me to post in their social medias..." Jinki replies, clearly not amused by the situation. "The boys had chased me down for a picture as well, I lost them around that street we left form earlier. That's when I ran into the girls."

 

Minho laughs, "you should've humored them, hyung."

 

Minho turns to see the older man pouting at him. "I don't look too good today."

  
Minho swallows, wanting to say  _"how dare you think you don't look good? I'd kill a man for your face. Why don't you understand you're so fucking beautiful."_

 

"You look good, hyung."

 

Minho wanted to punch himself.

 

Jinki laughs, "are you sure you're not looking at a mirror, Minho?"

 

Minho wanted to punch Jinki.

 

Jinki notices the younger's red face and decided to have mercy on him with the teasing. "So, Siwon-hyung's coming back for Christmas break, right?"

 

Minho nods. "Yeah."

 

Jinki bites his lower lip. "Do you miss your brother?"

 

Minho stops pacing to look up, the older stopped as well and watches Minho carefully.

 

"I know he's not really the best person personality-wise, but he is still your brother," Jinki adds.

 

Minho hated that Jinki wasn't able to understand him. He loved Siwon and he would do anything for his brother. The problem was, like what Jinki had said, his nature.

 

"I love my older brother," was all Minho said before walking again. He failed to notice Jinki's relieved face.

 

"That's good to hear," Jinki comments.

 

They walked for another minute without a sound before Jinki speaks again. "Is your brother in a relationship?" Minho gave Jinki a confused look.

 

"I don't think so. Are you...interested in him?" Minho slowly asks, secretly afraid of what Jinki might answer.

 

Jinki looks away, "nah. Siwon-hyung was being secretive about his status, that's all."

 

Jinki looks back to Minho. "What about you?"

 

Minho's eyes widen, "why would I be interested in my own-"

 

Jinki frantically shook his head. "No, silly! I meant if you were in a relationship!"

 

Minho slapped his forehead. How could he be so stupid? Now he really wanted to punch himself for every time he had made the situation awkward. For God's sake, he was just walking home with Jinki.

 

"I've never been in a relationship," Minho replies. Though he did have a crush on a boy named Cheolsu back in middle school, but that was the past, anyway.

 

Jinki nods. "I didn't have my first relationship until my first year of high school. I had my ups and downs there, but it was amazing."

 

Minho didn't like the thought of Jinki loving and being in a relationship with someone else.

 

"Oh really? What about now, hyung?"

 

Jinki was about to answer, only to be cut off by Baekhyun yelling in the distance. He had a victorious look on his face and poor Yixing was forced to run with him for some reason.

 

Minho's eyes widens when Baekhyun did not stop running towards him and it ended up with a collision. Both Minho and Baekhyun ended up on the floor with Baekhyun on top. Poor clumsy Yixing tripped over their feet and fell on top of Baekhyun.

 

Jinki watches the scene unfold before him. He stood there frozen before coming to his juniors' aid.

 

"Minho, are you alright?" Jinki says, panic clear in his voice. Hearing Jinki, Baekhyun scowls and pushes Yixing off.

 

"Geez, thanks for not asking if we're alright," Baekhyun grunts and gets off Minho. Yixing was whining pathetically next to them.

 

Yixing was cupping his mouth, "I think I broke something..."

 

Jinki helps Minho up and dusts the younger's shirt. Baekhyun's jaw dropped. He felt discriminated that Jinki was only concerned about Minho and not him or Yixing.

 

After making sure Minho was all right, Jinki went and helped Yixing up. The younger male was too busy whining about the pain in his mouth, which caused Jinki to frown. Baekhyun helps himself up and walks over to Yixing.

 

"I'll take you to the doctor after this," Baekhyun comments. He helps the taller male up, "damn, you look like shit."

 

Yixing frowns underneath his hand, "don't say that!" he whines.

 

"Why were you two running anyway?" Minho asks. Both Baekhyun and Yixing freeze in their spots. The two eyed Jinki before shaking their head, Baekhyun put on a fake smile and leans onto Yixing.

 

"It was nothing. We pulled a prank on Kris and Junmyeon," Baekhyun smiles mischievously.

 

Jinki laughs cutely, "those two really have sticks up their asses, do they?"

 

Minho forgets that Jinki can be vulgar when he wants to. It was just his cute face that made him look polite and pure.

 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, "tell me about it. Seeing those two bicker like an old married couple makes me sick."

 

"You're just jealous of Junmyeon, Baek," Minho sniggers.

 

Jinki notices Yixing looking uneasy and eying him in a way that made Jinki paranoid. He decided not to bring it up and that he would talk to Yixing personally after this. His eyes screamed that there was something the younger needed to say to Jinki.

 

Jinki grabs Minho's wrist. "C'mon, Minho. Your parents must be worried if you stay out too late. We should get going." While Jinki seemed unaffected by the sudden contact, Minho was flabbergasted. He was unable to breathe properly as Jinki continued to tug him. "We'll be seeing you later, Baekhyun, Yixing..." He glances at the two as they bow to him and bid their farewell. Jinki eyes Yixing until the first year's head turns away from his piercing gaze. Yixing was definitely hiding something now. Whereas Baekhyun is a passable liar in terms of body language, Yixing's eyes were not able to hide his inner thoughts.

 

They reached Minho's house in no time. The older of the two insisted to walk Minho up to his door and greet his parents. Though Minho's mother was out with her friends so Minho's father was the one to open the door. He smiles at the sight of Minho and Jinki.

 

"Jinki, it's been a while since you came here," Minho's father greets. Jinki bows and gave him his sweetest smile.

 

"It's been a while as well, Mr. Choi. How have you and Mrs. Choi been doing?" Jinki asks.

 

"Ah, we've been doing especially well," Mr. Choi answers. Minho sheepishly bows and slowly walks into his house. "How has our boy been to you? He's no trouble is he?"

 

Before Minho had time to protest, Jinki shook his head. "He's a good dongsaeng and friend. He reminds me of Siwon-hyung." Mr. Choi laughs.

 

"Those two are always alike in a way...would you like to go in, Jinki? I ordered some Chinese, if you'd like," Mr. Choi offers.

 

"It's alright, Mr. Choi. I'm heading home right now, I'm afraid my parents are worrying about me," the third year replies. "I will be on my way now. It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Choi. Bye Minho."

 

With one last bow, Jinki turns around with his phone by his ear. His usual smile breaks into a large grin, a sight that Minho has never seen.

 

He was, however, jealous that he wasn't the reason behind Jinki's smile.

 

Minho slapped himself for being so cheesy, earning a concerned look from his father.

 

**

Towards the end of the year, Siwon had come home for Christmas break. Minho had been happy to see his older brother again, though he wasn't as ecstatic as he thought he'd be. If he was being honest, he was much more happy with the fact that he and Jinki had been texting a lot more since the day they walked home together.

 

They didn't have much in common, but Jinki did have a lot of interesting stories to share about when he was a freshmen towards the end of his period as a student council member. He also shared a few stories about Siwon when he was the school council president when Jinki was a freshman. Minho had laughed when Jinki told him that Siwon liked to use his position as a student council member to try and jokingly bully underclassmen, though his plan backfired when he accidentally took it too far with Mr. Shim's son, Shim Changmin, the latter had ratted Siwon out to his father. Siwon earned an earful and detention from Mr. Shim just for teasing Changmin for not being allowed to pass the 12th graders' hallway. He was also once unaware that Cho Kyuhyun's mother was a teacher there as well, in which Siwon and some other student council members told Kyuhyun that he shouldn't stay in school after 4 pm because the school was haunted. Apparently, Kyuhyun had been scared shitless when Siwon and his peers scared him when he was alone in the music room. Though that situation led him to almost be stripped off his title as student council president.

 

Minho was convinced that not many people liked his brother back then. From the way Jinki described him, he seemed too...controlling and drunk with power. Minho would daresay that Siwon was quite manipulative with the way he got the rest of the members to follow him. Despite that, Minho still loved his brother. But he couldn't ignore the feeling of betrayal after admiring his brother for so long.

 

Seeing Minho being on his phone all day, which was a rare sight, piqued Siwon's interest. The older male had known Minho as the anti-social media kid as the younger boy preferred playing soccer and any other sports-related activities, and sometimes even sports-related video games.

 

As Minho was texting away, he didn't notice his older brother look over his shoulder. Siwon smirked.

 

"Who are you texting, Minho?"

 

Minho quickly turned off his phone after hearing his brother's voice. He turned around, looking flustered, to glare at his brother. "No one."

 

"Sure."

 

"It's true!" Minho insisted.

 

The more Minho spoke, the more suspicious he grew to Siwon's pleasure. He enjoyed backing his brother to the corner and make him confess whatever he's hiding. He was grateful that he was able to his family during Christmas break since he missed them all, especially his little brother. His younger brother had changed a lot since he left for college. Besides being more active on his social medias, he noticed Minho growing more secretive and less affectionate. He always saw Minho smiling at whoever was texting him and sometimes, a blush was visible on his cheeks.

 

He grew up too fast, Siwon thinks.

 

Siwon's hand snaked towards Minho's phone when the teen was busy glaring at his older brother. Siwon succeeded in stealing his phone before Minho got to react. Minho yelled after his brother when Siwon, the overgrown man-child, had run away and locked himself in his own room. Minho, the other overgrown child, was busy pounding the door.

 

"Hyung! What the hell!? Give it back!" Minho said between pounds.

 

Siwon grinned when Minho's phone didn't have a password. Though his grin faltered when he saw who Minho had been texting and the contact name Minho had written.

 

Siwon unlocked the door to see an angry looking Minho. The younger male snatched his phone back from Siwon, who just stared at Minho in disbelief.

 

"You've been texting Lee Jinki?"

 

"Yeah..." Minho answered quietly, not looking at his older brother.

 

Siwon frowns, "you're...dating him-?"

 

Minho flushes, "no!" he answers too quickly.

 

Siwon crosses his arms, "you had his contact saved under Jinki and a heart emoji next to it," he says, "it's okay if you date guys if that's what you were worried about...I mean, I didn't know you were gay, but...but that's okay! Really! But...why Jinki?"

 

Minho flashes him a confused look, "what's wrong with him?"

 

The older man sighs, "it's just that...he may seem very nice and I understand that. He's a nice guy. But when it comes to relationships...I don't think Jinki is good for you, Minho," Siwon spoke, sounding somewhat unsure about something. Minho could not believe the words coming out of his brother's mouth.

 

"Why not?" Minho asked in disbelief. "Jinki  _is_  nice. I mean...I don't...I mean, maybe I do have feelings for h-him, but..." Minho flushes. Instead of he usual endearing look Siwon had whenever he sees Minho admitting something, he frowned even more.

 

"Minho...I would prefer if you stop talking to Jinki instead..." Minho's head snapped up.

 

"You can't control who I befriend!" Minho said in disbelief. His heart was starting to hurt, worried that Siwon may be onto something that Minho didn't know. He knew Jinki wasn't as bad as Siwon made him to be. He refused to believe his older brother's words.

 

Siwon bites his lower lip, "it's not that I'm controlling whom you should and shouldn't befriend. Just this once, you should listen to me. Stay away from Lee Jinki."

 

Minho took a step forward, his fists clenched by his sides. "I don't care. I'm old enough to make my own decisions, hyung! I can tell Jinki is a nice person and I doubt he's as bad as you make him to be."

 

Siwon huffs, he was starting to grow irritated with Minho's headstrong nature. "It doesn't matter if he's nice or not. Look, it's better to let him go before you get hurt. From the sound of it, you two aren't dating, but I would prefer if you stop contacting him right now."

 

Minho felt tears welling up in his eyes. Couldn't Siwon be happy that he got a new friend? A crush? "At least tell me why I shouldn't befriend him..." he seethes out, only for Siwon to shake his head. "Your time as a school council member is over, Siwon. You could at least leave your bossy and manipulative attitude behind."

 

Siwon furrows his eyebrows, "no one's being manipulative." Siwon continues to glare at his younger brother before sighing. "Look, you also need to watch your attitude. Who knows what'll happen to you if you had the balls to act like this in front of your elders."

 

Minho looks up to him challengingly, "are you really going to treat your own brother like this?" Minho laughs in disbelief. "I know about your past, hyung. How you were a manipulative leader and that people  _despised_  you for that...everyone may have blindly respected you back then, but right now, you're just pathetic. Why don't you drop your ego and stop trying to control everything?"

 

Siwon was growing angrier and angrier at every word that left his brother's mouth. "Don't you dare bring up the past. I've learned my mistakes and I wouldn't repeat them ever again. You're still young, Minho. I know you're bound to make a lot of mistakes. But it's my job is to lessen your fuck ups in life and protect you-"

 

Minho barks out a laugh, "protect me!? By keeping me away from people?"

 

Siwon takes a step forward, "I'm not keeping you from anyone!" Minho visibly flinched at Siwon's tone. Though he was still angry, he quieted down, "I'm specifically requesting you to stay away from Jinki."

 

Minho's fists clenched. "You're not even giving me a good reason to stay away from him!"

 

"Minho, stop yelling," Siwon warns. Somehow, the older male managed to hold back his anger. He looks at his younger brother with a worried look. "Look, can we drop this? We're supposed to be having a good time since I'll be gone by next month and I really don't want to fight you right now. As for Jinki...someday, I will tell you why you should stay away from him. But I want to give you time to see if you actually have a crush on him or-"

 

"Why later and not now!?" Minho snapped.  "If me staying away from Jinki is a 'bad' thing, then what's wrong with letting me know now?" Minho took a step forward. "Are you playing some sort of game? Oh, is it called 'let's see how long it takes to manipulate my brother for my own satisfaction'?"

 

"I said-"

 

Minho shook his head. "But then again...I should know better than try to reason with the likes of you..."

 

Siwon's face turned dangerously irritated. "What do you mean by the likes of me?"

 

"Your past during high school. I know everything." The look Minho gave to Siwon made something within the latter to snap.

 

Though Minho did not stop there. "And also, you neglect me the whole time you were away and now you just happily walk in here to control my life! What is wrong with you!?"

 

Siwon pushes him backwards. "Don't talk to me like that! I have never stopped caring for you!" He barks out.

 

Minho stumbles backwards and falls on his back. He looks up to Siwon. He notices that his anger had been replaced with fear.  Unfortunately, Siwon had no room for mercy at the heat of the moment.

 

"I'm doing what's best for you, why can't you just listen to me? I don't want  _you_  to be hurt in the end!" Siwon shouted. Minho flinched when Siwon got closer and unconsciously dragged himself further back until his back hit the wall. He could hear Minho breathing unevenly and notices his now clammy palms. Minho also avoided eye contact with him. Those were the signs of Minho entering a panic attack. 

 

Siwon felt a pang of guilt in his hear. He realized that he went too far with pushing his brother. "Minho...I'm..." he bends down to try and help his brother up.

 

Minho shook his head and growls at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you..." He slaps Siwon's hand away as he helped himself up, stumbling a bit as he stood up. "You're at some level of fucked up, hyung...you're nothing but a manipulative, controlling, bastard..." Minho glares at his brother. He could see Siwon's mask break before him as anger was easily replaced with guilt and regret. Minho enjoyed seeing him break in front of him, though he would never admit it.

 

"As for your last reason...you already hurt me..." with that, Minho bolted to his room and locked it.

 

Siwon covers his face with his hand, wishing that he had told Minho the truth instead. But the damage has been done and there wasn't anything he could do right now to fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to say i really wished that i put the angst later on in the chapter but eh oh well


	3. three

JINKI <3

 

_'Happy birthday, Minho! <3'_

 

_'Minho, do you want to meet up tonight? We should be celebrating your birthday...'_

 

_'Also, I'm sorry about the whole Siwon situation.'_

 

**_'really? when, hyung?'_ **

 

**_'its fine, hyung. siwon was just being an ass, thats all. :('_ **

 

_'Since you're underage, it's best to stay away from bars and shit.'_

 

_'How about my house? I'll invite my friends, you invite yours. We'll have a small get together. Be here by 5 pm!'_

 

Minho smiled at the idea.

 

**_'sounds great! be seeing you there, hyung <3'_ **

 

_':-)'_

 

Minho turned his phone off and got up from bed. Last night had been hell with the whole Siwon situation and he was glad that his brother decided to go out in the morning. The last thing he needed was to see that jerk and his face. Though his brother had nicely placed his gift and birthday

 

Deep down, Minho knew Siwon meant well, but he couldn't deny his manipulative nature and love for overpowering people. He hoped his brother would grow out of that.

 

Minho had listed down the names of people to invite. First, he would definitely invite Yixing and Baekhyun. He knew that Jinki would be inviting Jonghyun, Luhan, Minseok, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Henry, and Sooyoung, as they were all former student council members; except for Luhan. Minho was worried that Jonghyun would go ahead and invite his boyfriend, Kibum, or as people like to call him, 'Key'. Minho was not fond of Key ever since they crossed paths in the music room. Minho thought Key was too bossy and Key thought Minho was to too thickheaded. The two agreed to never speak to each other ever again, that is until Jonghyun announced his relationship with Key. At first, everyone seemed skeptic about it since Jonghyun was a third year and Key was a first year. But Key's matureness was enough to prove that they fit for each other. Jonghyun just wished Key and Minho would get along instead of being at each other's throats.

 

Night soon came and Minho dressed himself in black jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt. He didn't want to dress too casual or too fancy, but he would admit that he was dressing to impress a certain someone. He combed his hair up like he usually does everyday.

 

He bid his farewell to his parents and gave a cold shoulder to Siwon before leaving the house. He takes the bus to Jinki's house, his house wasn't that far, but it wasn't so close either. After the first stop, he got down and made his way to the address Jinki gave him.

 

He nervously knocks on the door to be greeted by Jinki's warm smile.

 

"Hey birthday boy," Jinki greets.

 

Minho clears his throat. "H-hey, Jinki-hyung."

 

Jinki moves from the door, "you're the last one to arrive." Minho nods, slightly afraid that it would turn out to be those typical high school parties he saw on American movies. "Don't worry, like I said, it's just a small get together. No booze, no drugs."

 

Minho was reassured by Jinki's words and confidently stepped into the house, arm brushing against Jinki's He bit his lower lip, enjoying that short-lived physical contact.

 

Dear lord, Minho. Why do stuff like that excite you so much?

 

Minho's excitement was short-lived however, as soon as he spotted a grumpy looking Key sitting next to Jonghyun, his grin falters in the speed of light. "Why is he here?" Minho couldn't help but blurt out.

 

Key rolled his eyes, "believe me when I say I'd rather be anywhere than here." He slightly leans on Jonghyun. "Can we get this over with? I feel like I'm in a 5 year-old kid's party," Key groans.

 

"He's right y'know. No offense, but I'm pretty bored here," Yuri adds.

 

Minseok frowns, "it would've been a lot more interesting if I had invited Junmyeon and Kris. But Baekhyun here was truly against it..."

 

Baekhyun crosses his arms, "I'd rather die than be in a room with those two."

 

"Still not over that crush I see..." Jonghyun comments.

 

Baekhyun's eyes widen, "how'd you know about that!?"

 

Luhan rolls his eyes, "everyone knew you kissed him back then, Baek. Your crush on him is like a public secret now."

 

"It can't be a secret if it's public-"

 

"Public. Secret."

 

With that, Baekhyun shuts up.

 

Hyoyeon clears her throat, "should we...play truth or dare?"

 

Sooyoung shook her head, "I don't think that'd be wise since it never ends well. Someone either storms out crying, or just humiliate themselves for life."

 

Hyoyeon gives Sooyoung a look. "Well that is unless you want another round of twister-" Sooyoung quickly shook her head.

 

"Truth or dare is fine. We're dumb teenagers anyway. We're bound to do stupid shit," Yuri comments. The others agreed with it.

 

Jinki grabs a bottle and places it in the middle of the circle they made. Key was reluctant to join in at first, it took a lot of pleading from Jonghyun and a deal that he could do anything he wanted to Minho if the bottle landed on him, to which Minho halfheartedly agreed on.

 

Minho was the first to spin the bottle since he was the 'birthday boy'. The bottle landed on Minseok.

 

"Minseok-hyung, truth or dare?" Minho asks.

 

"Let's start soft. Truth."

 

Minho wasn't sure what to ask Minseok since he didn't know him that well. He pursed his lips while trying to think of something to ask. Jinki's eyes were focused on his pursed lips without Minho noticing.

 

"Have you ever kissed someone of the same gender?" Minho confidently asked, which surprised a lot of the seniors since they always thought Minho to be the awkward beanpole.

 

Minseok smirks, "my boy, if only you knew." The answer was enough to confirm that he obviously has done it.  "Better watch out, you ain't gettin' off easy with me on charge." Minseok spins the bottle, which landed on Yixing.

 

Yixing panics. "Truth!" he blurted.

 

"Is it true that you smoke weed behind school ever day during lunch?" Minseok inquires.

 

Yixing gaped at the blunt question. "Uh. No? I'd have to look high during class to confirm that rumor? Which I have never?" He did occasionally smoke, but he never touched weed. "I mean, I've smoked at school before, but never done weed."

 

"Good boy," Minseok mused. Yixing was unable to answer that as he spun the bottle, which landed on Baekhyun to Yixing's pleasure.

 

"Dare. Give me your worst." Baekhyun challenges.

 

"I dare you to kiss Kris Wu during the morning ceremony after Christmas break is over," Yixing smirks as Baekhyun's confidence breaks like a fragile vase, earning 'ooh's from everyone else.

 

Jonghyun laughs, "oh God, I feel bad for you, Baek. But you definitely had it coming..." he wipes a tear that he shed.

 

Baekhyun scowls, "oh geez. Better take a picture so it lasts longer."

 

"Nah, I'll film the whole thing," Minho chirps.

 

Baekhyun ignores Minho and spins the bottle. It landed on Yuri.

 

"Yuri-noona! Truth or dare?"

 

Yuri folds her arms across her chest, "dare."

 

"I dare you to kiss either Hyoyeon-noona or Sooyoung-noona!" Baekhyun grins victoriously, though he earned slaps from Jonghyun and Minseok.

 

Henry whistled, "damn. This has got to be the biggest scandal of the night."

 

Yuri shrugs and kisses  _both_ Hyoyeon and Sooyoung, which earned gasps from everyone in the room. Yuri smirks at the sight of Baekhyun's jaw dropping. "If your aim was to humiliate me, try again, sweetie. My turn." Yuri's bottle landed on Key, who groans in disgust.

 

"This is it. This is the worst nightmare. Being under Yuri's mercy is the last thing I want from this cruel world." Yuri ignored Key and laughs. "Since I'm not telling shit to anyone in this room, I'm going with dare."

 

"I dare you to sit on Minho's lap until he gets a turn," Yuri says. Key's eyes narrow at her, mouthing something incoherent - but probably rude - while Jonghyun looks at him apologetically.

 

Key plops himself on Minho, causing the younger male to yelp loudly.

 

"Dude! Get your sharp ass off my lap!" Minho cries out.

 

Key elbows his stomach. "Suck it up, hon. It's not my fault you can't handle sharp asses."

 

Minho glares at him before readjusting his sitting position. He catches Jinki worriedly glancing over to him.

 

Before Key spins the bottle, he chanted Minho's name in hopes that the bottle would land on him quickly. Though he curses when it landed on Hyoyeon instead.

 

"Truth or dare?"

 

Hyoyeon shrugs, "truth I guess."

 

"Boo. You're no fun," Key comments. "Out of everyone in this room, state who'd you fuck, marry, and kill."

 

Hyoyeon rolls her eyes. "I see everyone here as family, but here goes. I'd fuck Yuri, marry Minho, and kill Henry."

 

Henry pouts, "What the hell did I do to you?"

 

"All the paperwork you put under my name when it was supposed to be your job." Hyoyeon spat. Henry cowered in fear before letting the game move on. Minho felt flattered that Hyoyeon would want to marry him, but he honestly saw Hyoyeon as his older sister figure instead. Hyoyeon spun the bottle, which landed on Jinki.

 

"Jinki, my old friend. Truth or dare?"

 

"Dare."

 

"I dare you to kiss the person you'd fuck in this room."

 

A collective sound of groans and scandalous gasps were heard. Hyoyeon looks at them, confused, "what? It's just a harmless kiss. Won't do much damage, right?" To which everyone silently agreed with.

 

Jinki sighs and looks at the people in the room. There weren’t many choices in this room. Like Hyoyeon said, he saw everyone as a family in this room and he wasn't a really into the dare. But a dare was a dare and he had no other choice.

 

He leans in and kisses Luhan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was slightly inspired by the perks of being a wallflower


	4. four

Minho watched as Jinki's lips moved against the football team's captain. The latter was taken aback for a moment before playfully returning the kiss. They parted within a few seconds much to everyone's disappointment-- except for Minho's.

 

Minho felt numb after watching the scene happen before him. It was as if all the hope that Jinki gave him shattered right before his eyes. His arms started to pulse in pain, something that often happens whenever Minho felt crushed.

 

He watches Luhan and Jinki laugh it off acting as if the kiss did not affect their friendship. Unknown to them, it did affect something else.

 

Henry claps, "that takes the cake for being the biggest scandal of the night!" Everyone in the room turns to glare at Henry. The teen merely shrugged and pretended that the glares didn't bother him.

 

"Let's have a move on, shall we?" Minho didn't even care that the person he hated was sitting on his lap. His focus was on the senior he may or may not have liked - a lot. Jinki still looked unaffected by the kiss though there was a hint of worry in his eyes.

 

However, the damage has been done. If Minho's heart broke when Jinki said he did not like him, his heart was probably burned to the ashes when Jinki kissed Luhan.

 

Key notices the change in Minho's mood and spares a glance at his slightly younger friend. Minho's eyes were on the ground, staring at nothing in particular. Key wanted to ask Minho if anything was wrong -  'as a decent human being, not a friend,' Key insists - but his ego got the best of him and he decided to ignore the younger teen.

 

Jinki spins the bottle again which landed on Minseok now. The game kept on going, though Minho's mind was somewhere else. Everything surrounding him became muffled and his visions blur.

 

The bottle never landed on Minho and Key desperately wanted to get off his lap, saying that he felt like he was sitting on a rock. Unfortunately, everyone simply told him to suck it up.

 

"This is boring."

 

"Says the one sitting on Minho's lap."

 

Key rolls his eyes, "that's really nothing to be excited about."

 

"It really isn't," Minho deadpans. Despite being on a verge of a panic attack, he still manages to throw snarky comments at times.

 

Jinki stands up, "why don't I grab some food and we can just well, talk? We're celebrating Minho's birthday here and I think he should be having a good time instead."

 

"That's sweet of you, Jinki," Jonghyun teases. He notices the sad smile on Jinki's face before the older turns away.

 

"Be right back. I also need to check up on my brother," Jinki says as he walks away from the room.

 

Key slides off Minho's lap and places his head on Jonghyun's lap instead. Jonghyun immediately runs his fingers through the younger's hair.

 

"So Minho," Henry starts, "how's Siwon-hyung like at home?"

 

Minho's heart sank at the mention of his brother. However, he didn't want anyone to know that he and his brother are not on good terms right now. He shrugs, "I guess he's not so different from how he is at school." His answer earned a frown from his seniors. Minho realizes his slip up, "I mean, he cares a lot for his family and is someone I usually look up to."

 

Hyoyeon seemed uncomfortable with the situation, "we all look up to him," was the only sentence she could comment.

 

Minho wasn't aware of his brother's true nature at school, but he thinks it must be worse than he thought he'd be.

 

"Are you going to join the student council when you're in your second year, Minho?" Yuri suddenly changes the subject.

 

"Perhaps. I don't want to run for student council president though," he answers. He points to his two friends, "Baekhyun and Yixing are joining as well."

 

Minseok snickers, "good luck to you, Baekhyun. No offense, but you don't exactly have a clean record...you too, Yixing."

 

The two groan at the same time. "Is Mr. Shim ever going to let  _that_  go?" Baekhyun whines.

 

"Never."

 

"I was only caught smoking once!" Yixing protests.

 

"You smoked inside of the principal's office!"

 

Baekhyun points accusingly at Yixing, "I knew it! You were probably high on something! Even I wouldn't do something that dumb!"

 

"Speak for yourself, Byun!"

 

"I don't do weed!"

 

"Neither do I!"

 

The two first years continued to banter until Jinki returned with bags of food in his arms.  "Sorry I took too long. Did I miss anything?" He notices the awkwardness between Minho and some of the seniors. His eyes met Minho's gaze. The taller teen looks at him with his soulless eyes before looking away, his usual flushed cheeks absent from his face.

 

They sat in a circle while eating popcorn, chips, and those alike. Luhan whines about gaining a lot weight after this night, to which Minho rolls his eyes at. He respected his captain, well former captain soon since a certain 2nd year will be the new captain, but Luhan could be too whiny at times.

 

"This is nice, y'know?" Jonghyun comments. "Us third years are graduating soon and here we are hanging out with some freshmen." He earned offended looks from three teens and a playful slap from Key. "Didn't say I found this boring. All I've been thinking the past few months are nothing but exams and uni. This is a nice change of pace."

 

"I agree," Sooyoung replies. "But I sorta miss being a student council member..."

 

"Don't we all," Henry whines. "The teachers are keeping an extra eye on me ever since we were back to 'normal' students. They think I've been pretending to be nice while I was a student council member."

 

"No offense, but it still astounds me that you were able to get in," Key deadpans. Henry looks at him with wide eyes and an offended look.

 

"Hey! I did not go through a year of hardship to be...disrespected like this..." Henry retorts.

 

Minho could feel Jinki's eyes on him. He chants to himself that he shouldn't look back to him, no matter what.

 

Yixing purses his lips, "not to sound childish, but could you guys do something about Junmyeon and Kris? I swear they've been tailing on us ever since they earned their spot as president and vice..."

 

It was true. Ever since the incident with Baekhyun and Kris, both Junmyeon and Kris had been evil eying Baekhyun, and the prejudice they had against Baekhyun was clear enough. Yixing, being Baekhyun's only friend alongside Minho, had been labeled as Baekhyun's partner in crime. The two had gotten the short end of the straw and their lives have been hell ever since. Minho had been spared due to his friendship with Jinki and Jonghyun, two people that Junmyeon and Kris would rather not deal with.

 

Yixing knows Minho knew about this and couldn't help but be bitter about it. He did not like being clumped together with the infamous troublemaker, Baekhyun. Baekhyun, on the other side, was enjoying Yixing's misery; so much for being a 'good friend'.

 

Jonghyun waves him off, "good luck with that, kid. Jinki and I promised not to get involved with Junmyeon and Kris' business." Jonghyun snickers at the sight of Yixing's face.

  
"But this is bullying! I didn't even do anything wrong!"

 

"You befriended Baekhyun, that's where you went wrong," Minseok 'helpfully' adds.

 

"Hey!"

 

Jinki was moving closer towards Minho and the younger pretended not to care. Jinki knew something was wrong with Minho and he intended to find out; sadly, he has been giving Jinki a cold shoulder for some reason. Strands of Minho's dark hair had fallen to his forehead, making him look even more miserable and grumpy than before. Jinki frowns at the sight.

 

"Anyway, be prepared next year. We won't be there to see you guys take your seniors' spots. If we're lucky, we could sneak into school to see the inauguration..." Hyoyeon says.

 

"Hopefully, we can have another leader like Changmin, Jinki, or even Junmyeon," Yuri adds. Minho didn't react when she didn't mention his brother's name. 

 

"...And all we can do is wish our first years here good luck if they aspire to be one," Jinki says. He eyes Minho, "you're going for that, right?"

 

Minho didn't look up to Jinki. "Perhaps."

 

Jinki felt hurt by the younger's sudden coldness. It created an awkward aura within the room.

 

Jonghyun seemed to notice the change of the atmosphere. He takes a deep breath. He makes eye contact with Key, he could tell by the younger's eyes that he too noticed the tension between Jinki and Minho.

 

Meanwhile, Jinki was confused. Why was Minho suddenly cold to him? Did he do something wrong, perhaps?

 

"By the way..." Jinki starts, he grabs something from the shelf and walks over to Minho. "I got you something. Happy birthday, Minho."

 

Minho stares at the wrapped box in Jinki's hand. Henry had started singing happy birthday with everyone else following his lead. Minho looks up to see Jinki smiling down to him.

 

His smile seemed genuine.

 

How could he look at Minho like that after all he's done? Does Jinki genuinely care for him or is he this nice towards people?

 

Minho realized that he would be falling into Jinki's charms again, but he did so anyway. Who was there to stop him?

 

Minho flashes a smile. The first smile since the kiss happened. He pushed aside all of Siwon's words and decided to follow his own heart.

 

Jinki seemed to relax when he saw Minho smile again. Minho accepted the gift from Jinki, ignoring how close their faces were at the moment. Jinki grins, ruffles his hair, and sat down besides him. He engulfed Minho into a short hug before joining everyone to sing.

 

Jinki had a beautiful voice, Minho thinks. He slowly slips away from the fear and worries that had him under their clutches a few minutes ago. It was as if Jinki had dragged him out.

 

Everything around him blurs again, but this time, in a good way.

 

He could safely say that he has fallen head over heels for Lee Jinki.

 

**

 

Minho did not speak to his brother since then. They were still under the same roof, but Minho somehow managed to avoid his brother. Siwon wasn't stupid, he could see the adoration Minho had on his face whenever he opened his phone. It was clear by then that Minho chose to ignore Siwon and anything he had to say about his relationship with Jinki.

 

Minho would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about the implications Siwon made about Jinki. He could be slandering him, but Jinki seems to be very fond of his brother, there was no reason for Siwon to dislike him.

 

To say Minho was truly whipped for Jinki was an understatement. It seemed as if Minho would dust the path for Jinki whenever he walked. Jinki would spoil Minho in return and according to Siwon, there was something fishy about it.

 

Siwon trusted Jinki, but it was as if Jinki was playing with Minho's feelings and Siwon believed he should put a stop to it.

 

On a fine afternoon - a day before Christmas, Siwon finds himself sitting in a café with his two friends, Hyukjae and Donghae. Siwon felt nothing more than a third wheel as he watched Hyukjae cater to Donghae's whims the whole time they were in the café.

 

"Did you hear about Yunho? I heard he started to go out with Jaejoong again," Donghae says out of the blue after Hyukjae fed a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

 

Siwon acted interested, "oh really?"

 

Donghae nods, "their relationship ended badly back in high school. Jaejoong didn't even want to look at Yunho during his graduation speech."

 

"That bad, huh?" Hyukjae absentmindedly comments as he continued his ice cream.

 

Donghae tries again, "Changmin and Kyuhyun are dating too." Though he knew that wasn't a surprise. The two had been really close in high school and are known to pull rambunctious antics in high school. He couldn't really believe that Changmin had been the student council president and Kyuhyun was his vice president. It was as if the school had been run by the devil himself.

 

Despite that, Changmin is the least tolerable when it comes to bullying and seniority. He remembered what happened when a group seniors had been harassing Kyuhyun, it was a situation where Kyu's smart mouth couldn't save him because that was the original reason why they started picking on him. The slightly older male had been somewhat traumatized about the things they did to him. Changmin had heard about this incident and instantly took action. Needless to say, from that day on, they never saw Changmin the same again.

 

"We kinda saw that one coming, honestly," Hyukjae says.

 

Siwon sips his coffee, "Changmin was quite a person. Yunho taught him well."

 

Donghae snickers, "you're saying that as if Changmin is Yunho's dog."

 

"A very disobedient one if you would add," Hyukjae added bitterly. "He was such a brat back then. Acting all impulsively without thinking." He was still upset about the time Changmin had purposely put the wrong pictures of him in his yearbook. He never found out how Changmin managed to tamper with his senior's yearbook.

 

Silence filled the table, the only sounds heard were the small background sounds within the café.

 

"You guys don't have to act interested, y'know," Donghae finally says. He looks at Siwon, "Siwon was the one to call us here and he hasn't said much."

 

"It's Jinki," Siwon says, straight to the point. The two nodded in understanding.

 

"You should trust him more," Hyukjae simply comments.

 

Siwon sighs, "I do, but...this time, it's Minho that's involved." After Siwon finishes his sentence, the two raises their eyebrows in interest.

 

"Your own brother?"

 

Siwon nods.

 

He notices the change of expression in his friends' faces. They looked at Siwon with eyes full of sympathy and pity...for Minho. Siwon felt his heart break at the thought of the truth.

 

"You know how Minho is...when I tell him A, he does B; he never listens to me. He's just so...blinded by Jinki. It's like Jinki is...is Jesus to him or something." With that, Hyukjae and Donghae's serious expressions from earlier broke into loud laughter which earned glares from everyone in the café. "Why are you two laughing!?" Siwon whisper-shouts in disbelief.

 

"Oh God, haha! Of all things you could use as reference..." Hyukjae wiped a tear from his eye.

 

"Jesus is not a 'thing'!" Siwon protests loudly, again, earning glares. He looks at the other customers with an apologetic look and flashes them his dimpled smile, which seemed to work again seeing that they had turned flustered. He notices their laughter falter after a while. It was Donghae who spoke first.

 

Donghae waves him off, "anyways, what are you going to do about it? Minho's a kid and he's bound to make a bunch of fuck ups in high school. I mean, I did...and the consequences were nowhere near funny..." Donghae's tone slowly turned serious. The look on his face was a complete 180 degrees from the scene earlier. Hyukjae's arm unconsciously snakes around Donghae's waist after noticing the change in his lover's demeanor.

 

Siwon frowns, "are you implying I should let him get hurt in order to learn his...lesson?"

 

Donghae shook his head, "I'm saying that if you can't do anything about it, sticking your nose deeper into his business is futile. Minho would realize sooner or later...but I'm encouraging you to tell him the truth first." Donghae looks at him. His eyes were filled with slight anger and determination, "just do as I say and Minho will hurt less in the future."

 

Siwon knows that he should be listening to Donghae, for he was the wisest within the three. Despite being seen as an 'idiot' in many people's eyes, Donghae was the voice of reason in their clique. Hyukjae was the sympathetic and loyal friend, Siwon was the friend who would protect and care for you like a brother, meanwhile Donghae was the one with the wise words and...the latest gossips.

 

Siwon looks at him with a blank expression. He could see both Hyukjae and Donghae look back at him with the same look.

 

"I don't want Minho hurt," Siwon says firmly. The last thing he wanted to see was people he cares about getting hurt because of his stupid actions. But either way, Minho was going to get hurt because of his stupid actions.

 

"Either way, he's getting out of this situation hurt. There's no other way, Siwon," Hyukjae says. "You should do something about Jinki too though."

 

He hated that his brother would get hurt either way, but deep down, he knew what he had to do. It may hurt, but it was the right way. Siwon laughs humorlessly, "this feels like taking a kid's toy..."

 

The two looked at Siwon sympathetically.

 

"You do what you think is best for Minho and that's fine. I've never had a younger sibling before, but I understand your intentions," Donghae says. He himself had one older brother who looks after him, but not to the extent of Siwon. But with the current situation, it was understandable that Siwon would go this far.

 

"Thanks for...listening to me," Siwon says slowly.

 

"You're our friend and former leader," Hyukjae smirks, "why wouldn't we cater to the oh-so powerful student council president?"

 

Siwon glares at him, "you better watch it, Hyuk."

 

"Anyways, thanks for inviting us," Hyukjae says, ignoring Siwon. "We better be going now," Hyukjae eyes Donghae in a way Siwon wished he never saw.

 

Donghae grins, "yeah. Thanks again, Won. You're paying all of this, right?" Siwon's eyes widen.

 

The two began to walk away, "bye Won!"

 

"You assholes! Get back here and pay!"

 

Siwon watches his two traitors of a friend walk out of the café laughing. He then notices the money they had left under their drinks, which causes him to smile. He missed his friends a lot. He hadn't had the chance to see Hyukjae and Donghae for over a year due to college. He really wished they all went to the same university, but then again, even Donghae and Hyukjae went to different universities in different towns. It was no wonder why they bailed on Siwon to hang out with each other.

 

Though his happiness immediately falters when he sees a text from Jinki.

 

He taps on the message, but deletes it after he had read it.

 

**

 

JINKI <3

 

_'Minho, are you going to the Christmas party tonight?'_

 

**_'what party?'_ **

 

_'The one at Tiffany's.'_

 

_'There'll mostly be seniors, but you're okay if you're with me I suppose...'_

 

**_'oh'_ **

 

**_'sorry, hyung. i dont think i want to :('_ **

 

_'That's okay! I was hoping you say so anyway.'_

 

**_'??'_ **

 

_'You wanna go out with me later? Just a short walk around the park.'_

 

**_'sounds nice'_ **

 

**_'i'd love to :)'_ **

 

_'Great! I'll pick you up at 6!'_

 

**_'i'll be waiting <3'_ **

 

_' <3'_

 

Minho puts his phone away and looks at his clock. There was still another 2 hours before Jinki arrives to pick him up. He figured that there was enough time to hang out with Yixing and Baekhyun for a while. Minho grabs his phone and wallet before walking over his closet to grab his jacket.

 

After telling his parents that he would be going out for a while, he spares Siwon a glance before leaving. His older brother was peacefully asleep in the living room with the TV on.

 

He sends Baekhyun and Yixing a text as he walks by the sidewalk, not realizing someone had been following him from behind.

 

"Minho!"

 

Minho turns to see a familiar face.

 

"Jonghyun-hyung?" Minho was surprised to see Jonghyun there. He knew the elder had left town for Christmas a while ago, leaving Minho to deal with a grumpy and friend-less Key. "I thought you went back home..."

 

"I did," Jonghyun says stiffly. Minho notices the look in Jonghyun's eyes, they were not the usual loving or mischievous eyes the elder would usually show. Instead, they seemed quite...dark?

 

"Is there...something wrong?" Minho slowly asks after a period of silence.

 

Jonghyun bites his lower lip, his body was slightly shivering from the cold, and his hands were buried deep in the pockets of his coat. He was wearing glasses today, which were slightly covered due to the cool air.

 

"Minho...how close are you with Jinki?"

 

Minho felt his heart stop.

 

Why was everyone tampering his friendship- or whatever it was that he has with Jinki? He wanted to get mad at Jonghyun for questioning it, but with him being his senior, Minho tries to hold back. He notes to himself that he should take anger management.

 

"We're friends."

 

Jonghyun looked hesitant.

 

"Are you?"

 

Minho stiffens; fear began to crawl in his heart. The paranoia and anxiety that had been creeping within him began to surface. It was as if the incident with Siwon was happening all over again.

 

"Yeah."

 

Minho was close to Jonghyun, but not as close as he was to Yixing, Baekhyun, and even Jinki. They spoke like friends and hung out after school a lot, but he still felt awkward around Jonghyun if the two were left alone. Then Minho realized he was never left alone with Jonghyun like right now, there was always someone else, be it Jinki, Yixing, Baekhyun, and even Key.

 

"Do you..." Jonghyun starts, "...like him?" The face Jonghyun made after the last word left his lips looked like as if he wanted to take back what he said, or perhaps he was afraid something else would slip out of his mouth.

 

Minho stares down at Jonghyun, unable to answer his question. The memories he spent with Jinki the past few months flashed in his brain, which ended with an image of Jinki smiling to him for the first time. Minho felt himself heat up at the thought of it and instantly looked away from Jonghyun as if it was an instinct.

 

Jonghyun's eyes widen. "I'll take that as a yes..."

 

Minho couldn't do anything but look down and clench his fists.

 

Jonghyun felt like crying. He would rather jump off a bridge than deal with Minho right now.

 

"I wish you luck with him," Jonghyun blurts out. He instantly regretted his words when he saw Minho snapped back up with eyes full of hope. He wanted to punch himself, slam his head against the wall, and drown himself in the nearest river.

 

He couldn't take back those words as he saw Minho bowing to him, thanking Jonghyun for giving him his 'blessings'.

 

Minho happily walks away to the direction of Yixing's house, leaving Jonghyun alone watching as his figure slowly disappears in the distance.

 

Jonghyun broke down as soon as he was out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! School has been taking a lot of my time


	5. five

Minho couldn't hang out with Yixing and Baekhyun for under an hour due to his conversation with Jonghyun. His two friends threw insults at him for bailing first; Minho explains to them that he's going to need time to pick clothes for his night out with Jinki, earning laughter from his best friends.

 

"You're like a girl before prom," Baekhyun stifles his laughter. Minho glares at him.

 

"More like I'm like  _anyone_  before prom," Minho corrects. He cradles his face in his hands and groans out loud. "I'm so nervous!"

 

Yixing's eyes were focused on the video game he was playing as he answers Minho, "it's not like he's asking you to meet his parents..." Yixing seemed somewhat hesitant about saying anything ever since Minho brought up Jinki, unlike Baekhyun.

 

"I know, but it's just the two of us, y'know? At night? Alone? Together?" Minho made gestures with his hands. Yixing rolls his eyes at him.

 

"If you see it as a date, then it'll feel like a date. Which makes you nervous and...like this," Yixing mutters.

 

Minho flushes and looks away. "Of course I'd see it as a date...I mean, I obviously like this guy and all...he even may like me I guess?"

 

Yixing frowns, "you won't know 'till he confesses."

 

"Or until  _I_ confess."

 

Baekhyun shushes the both of them. "Quiet! I'm trying to think of something for you to wear tonight." Baekhyun looks lost in thought after a minute. Yixing's eyes twitch in agitation.

 

However, Yixing laughs. "It's obvious he wouldn't see what Minho's wearing under all that layers-"

 

"But I'm not fat-"

 

"No one said you're fat!"

 

Minho crosses his arms. "Well...I'm not on the skinny side either, that's for sure. I'm pretty sure I can handle the cold."

 

Yixing nods, "you have a pretty large build. You should be able to do so. But I'd suggest putting on a scarf, just in case you two decide to stay out a bit longer. Though, I wouldn't advice staying out long. Or even go out at night. Seriously, what is that senior of ours thinking, taking a freshman out on a winter night?" Minho pouts.

 

"He could be taking me to a café."

 

Yixing raises a brow, "or perhaps you're expecting to be enveloped in his 'warm embrace'?" he jokes. Minho gave him an offended look before retorting.

 

"Oh shut up. He may look warm and squishy, but he definitely can't 'embrace' my whole body. Like, I'm probably twice his size," Minho smirks.

 

Yixing stifles his laughter. "'Twice his size'? Bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?"

 

"Shut up, Yixing."

 

"Also did you call him warm and squishy? My, my...how far have you gone with him?" Yixing forgot about his...original intentions...and had fun teasing Minho instead since the younger's reactions were always the best.

 

Baekhyun ignores his two friends' banter and taps his chin, "I'd suggest nothing skimpy...Jinki hasn't reached the stage to see those parts of you-"

 

"Dude, it's fucking winter outside! Why would I go out at night with outfits like that!?" Minho's face was slightly flushed by Baekhyun's suggestion. "Besides, Jinki didn't expect me to dress nicely."

 

"Then why do you want to leave early? Spend time with us..." Yixing sounded somewhat sad. The elder pauses his game and turns to look at Minho with...puppy eyes. Minho suddenly feels guilty.

 

"I really want to ask Jinki-hyung out," Minho states as a reason.

 

"You can forget about the silly bet. You can ask him out after graduation or something..." Yixing retorts.

 

"What bet?" Baekhyun asks with a raised voice, intrigued.

 

"What? There's no bet." Minho really didn't want to argue with his friends right now. "Anyways, I won't be able to see Jinki a lot after he graduates since I will still be in school. We can meet up or whatsoever during summer vacation, but that's it, y'know? What if he goes out of town for college? Or worse, out of the country?"

 

Baekhyun nods in understanding, "understandable. Good luck on your date, man." Baekhyun pats - more like slaps - Minho's back, earning an 'oof' from the latter. "Go and get your man!"

 

Yixing shook his head. "You're not leaving yet...you still haven't had a turn..." Yixing gestures the video game he was playing right now. Baekhyun, however, slaps the back of Yixing's head.

 

"Be more sensitive! Our Minho's going on his first date in high school and you're stopping him from doing so because of a game?" Baekhyun sounded mad, but Minho knew he was over exaggerating.

 

Yixing shrugs, "just saying, Baek. He hasn't had a turn yet. He was the one to text the both of us to hang out. He's been here for barely an hour-"

 

"This is his first date, Yixing! Maybe if you've been on one, you'd know how important this is to him!" Baekhyun suddenly snaps. Yixing was taken aback by Baekhyun's tone and sudden anger. Though Yixing, being the humble and big-hearted guy he was, decided not to push it further since he didn't want to be the one apologizing to Baekhyun and Minho for something silly.

 

He raises his hands in defeat. "Alright, I surrender." He turns to look at Minho with a pained look. "Good luck with your...date." He spat the last word, which came out somewhat rude. Minho was surprised with Yixing's sudden hostility.

 

 _'Does he...like Jinki or something?'_  Minho thought. 

 

Baekhyun snaps his head towards Yixing's direction. "God, can't you even pretend to be supportive?"

 

Yixing's mouth gapes open, "what the hell do you mean by that?"

 

"Don't pretend you don't know, you clueless airhead!"

 

"Stop!" Minho snaps. The two turned their attentions to Minho, the latter sighs and buries his face in his hands. "I really don't want you guys fighting right now...the last thing I need is no support from my only best friends. You know how it went with my brother and I don't want to ruin our friendship either." He glances at Yixing, "I understand if you don't support my decisions with Jinki. But please, I assure you that the bet will not be in my mind when I speak with Jinki."

 

Minho decided to drop the whole 'what should I wear?' crap. He decided that he's going to meet Jinki with whatever he was wearing now. He realized that he shouldn't go all out in this just yet. Though Minho didn't bother telling his friends that as he turns his back to them.

 

Both Yixing and Baekhyun were still speechless as Minho walks out the door, slamming it shut.

 

**

 

Key was strolling around the neighborhood a day before Christmas, though he did not expect to find his boyfriend, who was supposed to be back in his hometown, crying in the sidewalk. The scene initially shocked Key, but he hurried to tend his boyfriend.

 

"Jjong, why are you crying?" he cups Jonghyun's face as soon as he reaches the elder. Jonghyun buries his face into Key's neck without another word. Key scoffs, "I swear...you're such a crybaby..."

 

Key ignores the people passing by who stared at them and continued to calm his boyfriend down. "You're such an ugly crier, Jonghyun."

 

Jonghyun's head immediately shoots up. His eyes were puffy and red, but he manages to make a comical offended look. Key laughs at the sight but winces when Jonghyun's grip on his waist tightens.

 

"I thought we agreed that we're both ugly criers..." Jonghyun mumbles. Key forces Jonghyun to walk towards a bench and sit on it. Key then handed a handkerchief to Jonghyun, to which shorter used it to wipe his tears away. "Thanks," he mutters.

 

Key puts his arm around Jonghyun's shoulders. "So...will you tell me what's up? Or do you want to talk somewhere private?"

 

Jonghyun shakes his head. "No, here is okay."

 

"Okay. Go."

 

"I did something dumb."

 

Key's eyes immediately widen and his body freezes. He was already thinking of the worst-case scenarios, but he tries to suppress those deep dark thoughts into the back of his head. After recovering from the short anxiety, Key speaks again.

 

"Is it...about our relationship?" Key asks slowly.

 

Jonghyun shakes his head.

 

"It's about Jinki and Minho."

 

Key's eyes widen. "Don't tell me you broke the news to Minho-"

 

"I didn't!" Jonghyun shouts, as if he was confessing a crime. Key looks at him strangely, eyebrow raised.

 

"And?"

 

"That's it! I didn't tell him! I feel terrible, Kibum!" Jonghyun wails. Key felt red when a bunch of people who passed by gave them strange looks. Key awkwardly pats Jonghyun's back to soothe him. "I accidentally made him think that I support his decision to ask Jinki out! Christ, I'm such a terrible human being! What would everyone think of me when they hear this-"

 

"Jjong...listen to me..." Key cuts his boyfriend's long rant with his soothing voice.

 

Jonghyun looks up to him with teary eyes.

 

"...I'll tell him instead," Key cringes at the face Jonghyun makes. The elder immediately pulled away from Key.

 

"You're going to break his and my heart!" Jonghyun yells. "We both know how blunt you are with things, Kibum..." Kibum was known to have a sharp tongue when it comes to honesty. It didn't mean Key was an unfriendly or unapproachable, in fact, this fact is what attracted people to him.

 

"Well..." Key trails off, "think of it as pulling off a bandage. It'll hurt like hell, but at least you went through it..."

 

Jonghyun shook his head, "No, Kibum."

 

Key looks at him, confused.

 

"The aftermath is worse than pulling the bandage off," Jonghyun mutters.

 

Key looks at him sadly. "There's no other way...I'm telling him before school starts again. We can't let this go on for any longer. I despise that kid with my whole heart, but letting this go on is inhuman...God, I want to murder Jinki for treating Minho like this. Why couldn't that blockhead just stay away from Minho in the first place..." Key growls out the last part. He was intolerant towards people who play with feelings and casually throw 'I love you''s and never mean it.

 

Jonghyun laughs weakly. "You're pretty serious about this, huh?"

 

Key scoffs. "I may not like Minho's guts, but I won't like seeing him hurt, especially because of stuff like this. I'm mean, but I'm not heartless."

 

"You just admitted that you're mean."

 

"That's what I am, am I?" Key asks.

 

Jonghyun ruffles his hair, "I suppose...but you're being pretty sweet right now and I like it this way. You should stop being so mean to everyone else," Jonghyun snorts.

 

"And you should stop being a crybaby, babe."

 

"Hey!"

 

Key chuckles. "Come on, you big baby, let's go home." Jonghyun stops smiling and looks away.

 

"I kinda...took the train back here and my house is locked," Jonghyun says. Originally, he went back to his hometown for Christmas, but the whole Minho situation got to him and made him unable to relax. Because of that, Jonghyun had taken the first train back home but had somehow forgotten to bring his house keys but still remembered to bring some of his clothes along. Since it was getting late and it was Christmas Eve, Jonghyun doubts there are any more trains at this time to return to his hometown.

 

"I can't believe you..." Key murmurs. "Come on, you're spending Christmas with me and my family." Key tugs his boyfriend's hand as he stood up, Jonghyun's eyes immediately widened in alert.

 

"Woah, woah! I'm n-not ready to meet the parents already! We haven't even dated for a year! I don't think this is a good idea, Kibum-" Key shushes him and continues to drag him to his impending doom. "Hey, hey, Kibum- please! I don't want to die before Christmas-!" Key shuts him up by kissing him on the lips. Jonghyun immediately relaxes when he felt Key's mouth move against him. The kiss didn't feel sexual for Jonghyun, it felt somewhat relaxing and ensuring. He liked the feeling.

 

"Don't worry about it," Key reassures, his eyes didn't hint anything mischievous. Jonghyun decided to fully trust him and he let Key lead him to his house while Jonghyun grabs his forgotten luggage that he had brought along while confronting Minho.

 

"You're the best, Kibum."

 

"I know."

 

**

 

"Mom, have you seen Minho?" Siwon asks as he yawned. He had just woken up from a nap on the living room couch. His eyes flutter open and he looks around, his mother was busy fixing dinner, while his father was on the armchair next to the couch, reading something on his phone. Minho was probably in his room.

 

"Minho went to see a friend. He said he'll be back late, I hope you don't mind eating dinner a bit late since we would be waiting for your brother..." Mrs. Choi says. Siwon frowns; it was definitely unusual for his brother to go out at night. "But I think you should go and find your brother, Siwon. I think it'll be snowing tonight and I didn't see Minho wear enough layers for that..."

 

Siwon scratches his head. "That's strange..."

 

Mrs. Choi laughs, "he looked like he was about to go on a date, honestly. I'm all for him dressing how he wants dress, but I really think a thin coat and scarf won't protect him from the cold."

 

Siwon paled.

 

"Did he say where he was going exactly?" Siwon inquires.

 

Mrs. Choi purses her lips as she tries to remember Minho's exact words from earlier. "He did mention going to a friend's house and going out for a walk with someone else afterwards...he didn't mention names though." Mrs. Choi turns to see Siwon's worried face. "Is there something I should be worried about? Is Minho...seeing someone?"

 

Siwon shook his head. "You don't have to worry about it...and as far as I know, I don't think Minho is seeing anyone," he lies. He could feel his anger rising within him, but he holds it back. First, he needed to find his brother. "I'll be heading out now. I'll try to look for Minho."

 

Mrs. Choi frowns when she notices Siwon's sudden change of expression. "Be careful, okay?" She watches his eldest son grab his coat and boots before heading to the front door. She notices Siwon bring an extra coat, probably for Minho since the kid must be freezing to death right now.

 

"Yes, mom," Siwon answers before closing the front door shut.

 

Somewhere else, Minho was sitting on a bench alone, waiting for Jinki to arrive. He curses to himself for not bringing a thicker coat and a scarf. He was too hung up on trying to impress Jinki that he even forgot to take care of himself. He made a mental note to put his health before dating.

 

He glances down to his wristwatch. Jinki should have arrived a few minutes ago, but he could be running late. Minho reassures himself that Jinki would never bail on him. Despite not knowing Jinki's true feelings for him, Minho was sure Jinki wouldn't try anything funny to hurt his feelings.

 

He looks up to the sky to see the starry night sky.

 

It was a view he and his brother loved back then. Siwon would always try to sneak Minho out to catch a clear night sky view since it was so rare nowadays. Minho would always try to count all the stars he could see in the sky before Siwon did. Siwon always let Minho win since the latter would start crying if he lost in any sort of game, as the younger was the more competitive of the two.  Minho smiles at the memory, but felt sour remembering the argument he had with Siwon a while ago.

 

Truthfully, he wanted to apologize to his brother. Minho felt that he had been influenced too much by Jinki's stories, despite the way Jinki had interpreted them as something to be proud of. Maybe Minho, as a freshman, wouldn't understand the joy and pride of being a student council member. Maybe one day he'll understand why Siwon decided to do such things. But for now, he couldn't help but view his brother negatively.

 

Minho knew he'd have to forgive his brother sometimes sooner. Christmas was tomorrow and he would like to not have an awkward morning when they open their presents. Minho decided think about it after his 'date' with Jinki tonight.

 

Speak of the devil, the aforementioned teen appeared out of nowhere and sat down besides Minho, joining him to gaze at the sky.

 

"They're pretty, aren't they?" Jinki starts. Minho pouted when Jinki didn't even bother to acknowledge or greet him first and commented on the stars instead.

 

"You're late," Minho crosses his arms and glares at the elder. Jinki laughs and ruffles Minho's hair, earning another glare from the younger, which was accompanied by a faint blush.

 

"I wasn't. You were just too early," Jinki grins cheekily.

 

"I thought we agreed on-" Jinki shushes him with a finger.

 

"Come on, I want to show you something. Follow me," Jinki gets up and gestures Minho to follow him. The younger raises a brow.

 

"How would I know you're not trying to take me into a forest and murder me there?" Minho leans back onto the bench and grins at Jinki. The elder merely rolled his eyes and grabs the taller's hand, tugging on it.

 

"You watch way too much horror movies. I can't even stand the sight of blood anyways," Jinki chuckles, "now come, we don't have all night. I'm pretty sure Siwon-hyung and your parents would go through the roof if I kept you here for too long."

 

Minho smiles at Jinki's concern. "No need to worry about it, Jinki. They need to let me grow up sometimes."

 

"Ah, the sweet smell of teen rebellion," Jinki teases.

 

"Oh come on, like you didn't go through this phase already," Minho whines. Jinki continues to pull Minho's hand.

 

"I sure did, Minho," Jinki answers. "Made a lot of fuck ups too. But those fuck ups made me who I am now and I'm proud of it. Now let's go and fuck things up, Minho."

 

Jinki didn't realize he never let go of Minho's hand until they reach their destination.

 

Minho's heart was beating fast and his face was flushing red. He curses Jinki for turning him soft.


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for implied cheating in the end of the chapter...

Yixing had just finished dinner when he heard the doorbell ring. He places the dried dishes down and hurries up to the door. He turns the knob and was quite surprised with who showed up.

 

"Aren't you...Minho's older brother?" Yixing asks. "Siwon...right?"

 

The elder man nodded. Despite his serious look, he seemed out of breath. "Where's Minho?"

 

Yixing frowns. "He left a while ago."

 

"To where?" Siwon inquires.

 

Yixing narrows his eyes, "I know what you're about to do and I think it's best you lay low for now, hyung." He didn't care that he sounded rude at the moment. There was no way he was letting Siwon ruin Minho's night.

 

Siwon grits his teeth, remembering Donghae's advice. "I'm sorry, Yixing. I think it's better if he knows now. It's all of our damn faults for not telling him from the beginning. We were all stupid. Especially Jinki and I."

 

Yixing chuckles. "You realized that just now?"

 

Siwon glares down to him. "I know I'm wrong here, but it doesn't give you the right to be disrespectful to your elders." Yixing's smile immediately falls. Siwon curses himself for sounding like how he used to be back then. "May I please come in?"

 

Yixing decided to let Siwon in since it was cold out. The elder takes off his shoes and sits on the sofa while Yixing went to the kitchen to make some tea. Siwon was slightly shuddering until he held the cup of tea.

 

"Thank you, Yixing."

 

Yixing nods. "Aren't you supposed to be in a hurry to 'save' your brother?"

 

Siwon shook his head. "I need a minute. I ran all the way here."

 

Yixing's eyes widen. "For real?" He earned a nod from Siwon. "I salute you for that. I would've collapsed midway." He notices Siwon not paying attention to him. "So...what brings you here?"

 

Siwon looks up. "My mother told me that he went to one of his friends' house. That Baekhyun kid was not home, so I came here."

 

Yixing grimaces at the mention of Minho's other friend. Siwon notices the change in the younger's expression. "Did I say something wrong?"

 

"No. It's just that we all fought before Minho left," Yixing confesses. This earned Siwon's interest.

 

"Really?"

 

Yixing nods.

 

"I won't pry."

 

But Yixing tells him anyway.

 

"It was stupid. Baek was siding with Minho and I was...not. I was truly against the night out Minho was going to have with Jinki," Yixing observes Siwon's face, he notices the elder's face turn to a scowl. "I couldn't bring myself to ruin Minho's night, hyung. I just couldn't."

 

Siwon sighs, "you're not the only one, kid. Me, Jonghyun, and hell, even Baekhyun turned to side with him."

 

"Unrelated, but how'd you know where I live?" Yixing suddenly asks.

 

"Oh...I looked at Minho's notes once and I found yours and that Byun kid's address," Siwon answers. "Anyway...I asked a friend of mine on what to do, and he said to me that I should spill the beans already if no one can." For some reason, speaking with Yixing felt different than speaking with any 16-year old kid. Yixing was more mature and understanding according to Siwon. Despite looking like a child and seemingly airheaded at times, Siwon liked to believe that Yixing was like an adult stuck in a teenager's body.

 

Yixing frowns. "But...Minho will be hurt." Yixing looks up to Siwon with wide eyes. Siwon saw the immature and weak side of him through his eyes. Despite being understanding, he still possesses a mentality of an innocent boy.

 

"It's better this way," Siwon states.

 

"There has to be another way...like for Minho to lose feelings for Jinki..." Yixing tries again. Siwon shook his head.

 

"There's no other way. Being his brother, I know Minho very well and he wouldn't simply 'lose feelings' for someone. Jinki told me on how long he's been speaking with Minho and I think it's long enough for him to think that he's fallen in love," Siwon explains to the younger.

 

"Why not tell Jinki to stop acting too nice to Minho?" Yixing suggested. Again, Siwon shook his head.

 

"He'll ask questions. He'll wonder why he's receiving different treatment," with that, Yixing sighs in defeat.

 

"I really don't want to see how it all turns out," Yixing comments, twirling the teaspoon he had in his hands.

 

"I just request that you be there for him when it all goes down, Yixing. Minho will definitely not take it well," Siwon says.

 

Yixing bites his lower lip. He may not have known Minho long, but he can tell how upset Minho will be when it came to feelings. For as long as he's known Minho, the younger never felt anything for anyone else besides Jinki. So he has yet to see Minho heartbroken and he honestly wished he never would have to.

 

"I would. Though I don't think I'm going to happily comply," Yixing answers honestly.

 

Siwon nods and stood up. "I understand that."

 

Yixing watches him move from the couch and to the door. "Are you leaving already, hyung?" Siwon turns around.

 

"Yeah." With that, he continues to open the door.

 

"Do you even know where to look for them?" Yixing questions with a brow raised. Siwon stops his tracks and turns around again. Yixing still remained in the same spot when Siwon took a few steps closer.

 

"No..."

 

Yixing contemplates whether he should spill the beans to Siwon or protect Minho. But then again, he'd have to do so in order to protect Minho, but in a different way.

 

He informs Siwon of Minho's location and watches the elder leave. Yixing felt guilt creep all over him.

 

**

 

"Be careful, Minho," Jinki warns the younger as they cross the river, the taller nods without looking at Jinki and easily crosses over the river. Jinki laughs at Minho's smug look. "Don't look so proud, kiddo."

 

There he goes again with the pet names. Pet names Minho did not like.

 

"Now we're finally here." Jinki gestures the ledge in front of him. Minho frowns and took a few steps forward to observe the spot. The ledge was quite steep, though the bottom wasn't that far down. He takes his time to enjoy the nighttime city view. It looked like as if it came straight out of a movie, even the situation right now felt like a movie. Minho could not believe that it was actually happening to him right now.

 

"What a beautiful view," Minho says after taking a deep breath of the fresh air.

 

"I know right? The council members and I found this place one night a long time ago. We made it to our secret spot whenever we needed to do or talk about something where it'll be just us," Jinki explains.

 

Minho looks at him, confused. "But why did you take me here?"

 

"So you and your council members pals can go here too," Jinki flashes him a knowing grin, to which Minho chuckles at. To him, Jinki could not get anymore cuter than this.

 

"You're putting too much faith in me, hyung," Minho retorts as he sat down on the cool ground.

 

Jinki sits next to him, his legs dangling over the ledge. "And you're not putting enough faith in yourself, Minho. If you want something, you should really work hard in order to get it. Dedication is important too." Jinki looks at him a bit too seriously to the point that it looked comical, it caused Minho to erupt into a fit of laughter. Jinki pouts at this, "don't laugh so suddenly!"

 

"I'm sorry hyung!" Minho chuckles when Jinki playfully hit his head.

 

"On a serious note...I really do think you'd fit in just right as student council member in the future. That is if you manage to keep a clean record throughout your first year. The teachers tend to be picky with who's good and bad, especially Mr. Shim," Jinki says.

 

Minho shook his head. "I don't see that potential in me yet."

 

Jinki raises a finger. "'Yet'. You said it yourself. Now I know that you at least think you probably can if you bothered trying."

 

"You're very caring, hyung," Minho finds himself blurting out.

 

Jinki leans backwards till his whole body touches the ground. "It's my nature. Having a younger brother turned me this way."

 

"You have a younger brother?" Minho asks.

 

"Yeah, I told you, remember?"

 

"How old is he?"

 

"Mmm...he's around 2 years younger than you are. He's still in middle school now," Jinki answers.

 

"Ah."

 

It turned quiet. Minho follows Jinki and lay himself on the ground as well. He looked up to see the clear dark sky with bright stars contrasting it. It was quite a view. Minho makes a mental note to remind himself to visit this place alone when he needed time alone.

 

After what felt like an eternity, Jinki speaks again.

 

"I really, really believe that you'll be like me, Siwon, and Junmyeon, Minho. I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling," Jinki suddenly says.

 

"You're very enthusiastic about the whole student council thing, aren't you?" Minho turns his head to look at Jinki, who was smiling up to the sky. Minho felt himself fall even deeper for Jinki when the beautiful face of his turn to look at him. At this point, Minho was sure he was in _love_ with the elder.

 

Truthfully, he was afraid of himself for being able to fall in love with someone that quick.

 

Maybe it wasn't love. Maybe it was puppy love. 

 

Though who was he to understand himself?

 

"I've met the most wonderful people through the student council. I was in a bad place back then...these guys helped me stand up when I thought I hit rock bottom. I'm really thankful that I met them," Jinki spoke with adoration. "I learned that there were still people who supported and liked me when I was a student council president candidate. I felt so...special."

 

Jinki continues on talking, "I would've never imagined actually becoming a student council president after Changmin. I thought no one could actually live up to Changmin's level...but there I was. From then on, I realized that not everyone's trying to fuck with me and ruin my life...that nice people still existed. I thought to myself that I too should be nice. That I should be the best guy they've ever met in their lives."

 

Minho smiles when Jinki realizes that he has been saying too much. "I'm glad you didn't fall asleep through my 'speech'," Jinki jokes.

 

Minho looks back up to the sky. "It's okay, hyung. I love hearing about you."

 

Jinki frowns, but his cheeks were red.

 

Minho grins at his accomplishment.

 

**

 

"Kris...please..." a voice spoke, sounding afraid. The aforementioned person simply looks down to the figure bowing before him. "You promised me that you'll try once I get into high school."

 

Kris leans back to the wall, "Baekhyun, stand up straight." The younger immediately straightens up. Kris sighs while pinching the bridge of his nose. Not long ago, Baekhyun came running to his house, pounding on the door until Kris groggily walked downstairs to open the door for him.

 

Right now, Baekhyun looked pitiful. He had been crying since he got here and honestly, Kris didn't know what to do about him. He was thankful Junmyeon was not here with him when Baekhyun came barging in.

 

Kris knew of how people treated Baekhyun's crush on him as a joke since the latter tended to over exaggerate over things a lot and is basically a huge drama king. Though Kris felt like the only person to see Baekhyun's longing looks of adoration and hopelessness on him whenever he was with Junmyeon.

 

Baekhyun had been crushing on him for as long as he could remember. Kris has known Baekhyun since the two were in kindergarten and Baekhyun would always cling to him all day. Not long into middle school, Baekhyun had confessed to Kris out of nowhere despite the fact that his crush was obvious enough for Kris even before his confession. Kris, of course, rejected him nicely, saying that he needed to focus on his studies and that they could try something when Baekhyun gets into high school.

 

"Baekhyun..." Kris starts, "you know I can't do this. I'm with Junmyeon."

 

The younger glares up to Kris. "And break the promise you made to me?" Baekhyun retorts.

 

Kris grimaces, "I know I'm in the wrong for breaking our promise, but Baekhyun, you must understand..."

 

Baekhyun snaps. "What must I understand, Kris!? That you're a promise breaker!? That you don't consider my true feelings for you? I'm sick of people seeing me as a fucking joke!"

 

Kris moves forward, "Baekhyun, please calm down..."

 

"Don't touch me!" Baekhyun spits out when Kris tried to touch his shoulder. Kris immediately pulls away and takes a step backward.

 

"Baekhyun...it's almost 8...I think you should go home and rest, take your time to think about this..." Kris suggests. Baekhyun wasn't having any of it, however.

 

"No! I came running here after a fight with my best friend and don't you dare kick me out as well!" Baekhyun growls.

 

Kris would be lying if he said Baekhyun wasn't scary right now. He could feel chills running through him whenever a word left Baekhyun's mouth.

 

_Flashback_

 

_"Baekhyun, what the hell!?" was the first thing Yixing says after Minho left the room. The younger looked at his friend with wide eyes._

 

_"What do you mean by that?" Baekhyun shouts._

 

_Yixing rose from his spot. "You drove Minho out with your damn loud mouth!"_

 

_Baekhyun grits his teeth. He wouldn't accept that he was in the wrong in this situation. "Me!? You were the one being a dick about Minho's first date! I get that you never got a chance with Junmyeon, but that doesn't give you the right to shit on Minho's love life!"_

 

_Yixing sighs. "Baek...you damn well know why Minho shouldn't be with Jinki. You saw it yourself that day."_

 

_Baekhyun scoffs. "Maybe I don't see anything wrong with it. Maybe there's nothing wrong with them getting together."_

 

_"Baekhyun," Yixing warns._

 

_Baekhyun takes a few steps forward. "Why can't you understand, Yixing?" Baekhyun was no longer angry, but he sounded like he was trying to convince Yixing instead._

 

_However, Yixing had enough with Baekhyun. He didn't like what the younger was implying. Yixing felt that he needed to protect both Jinki and Minho's image at school, and Baekhyun, despite being Minho's friend, didn't support Yixing._

 

_"None of this would've happened if we told the truth to Minho that day, Baek," Yixing spat, which caused Baekhyun's anger to rise again._

 

_"Well it's too late, is it? All we can do now is support Minho and his feelings for Jinki," Baekhyun retorts._

 

_Yixing gapes. "You...why can't we just tell Minho?"_

 

_"Because Minho will be hurt," Baekhyun states._

 

_"But we could at least not encourage him. We're doing something wrong here, Baekhyun. Encouraging him only raises too much of his hope for him," Yixing tries to reason. He became even more irritated when Baekhyun points a finger at him._

 

_"I'm sure Minho would drop you as his friend once you say to his face that you no longer support him as a friend," Baekhyun sniggers._

 

_"What is wrong with your morality!?" Yixing suddenly snaps again. "We can't support Minho!"_

 

_"Yes we can!"_

 

_"Of course you would. People like you don't care about your image. You'll go around kissing **people's boyfriends** like it doesn't matter. It's like as if no one's feelings buy **yours** matter," Yixing spits._

 

_He immediately regretted the words that left his mouth when he notices the change in Baekhyun's expression. Baekhyun backs away when Yixing walks forward._

 

_"Baekhyun, I'm-"_

 

_"People like me huh...haha," he laughs humorlessly. Baekhyun shook his head, "it's true then...no one will ever take me seriously. I only care about what I feel anyway..."_

 

_"Baek-" Yixing tries to touch him, only for Baekhyun to slap his hand away. Yixing retreated to hold his stinging hand to himself._

 

_"No one understands, Yixing! Not even you!" With that, Baekhyun leaves the room and slams the door shut._

 

_Yixing sighs; another friend gone because of a stupid argument. Yixing slid down to the floor and hid his face in his hands._

 

_Flashback end_

 

"Look, I'm sorry that you fought with Yixing and Minho, but Baekhyun please understand me too..." Kris tries again.

 

"I'm tired, Kris," Baekhyun still refused to back off. "You and Junmyeon...you two made most of the 2nd years hate me and Yixing for no reason. Well Yixing for no reason and me for seeming like I go around and kiss people's boyfriends...."

 

Kris's expression was unreadable. "You do."

 

Baekhyun flinches at his tone. Despite that, he confidently closes the space between him and Kris, their faces only a few inches apart.

 

"Kris...are you sure you want to be known as a liar in my eyes?" Baekhyun spoke with a tone Kris has never heard before. It honestly scared him to end.

 

Kris notices Baekhyun run his fingers down Kris' arm. He cringes at the touches that came from a person who was not Junmyeon. Kris gently pushes the younger backwards, signaling that he felt uncomfortable and somewhat disgusted. Baekhyun immediately looks up to him apologetically.

 

"Sorry..."

 

"It's...okay." Kris had trouble keeping his composure. He had to remind himself that he was in a relationship with a person he loved dearly, but in the back of his mind, he really didn't want to be seen as a liar in Baekhyun's eyes. He looks down to make eye contact with the shorter male.

 

Though something within Kris snapped when Baekhyun gave him a look.

 

Kris leans in and locks lips with Baekhyun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally wrote this not so long ago but im cringing already haha:(


	7. not a chapter

Hello. I'm sure all of you has seen the news. I too am still mourning over him and I will be honest, with my stress and depression burdening me since the last few weeks, the news was very, very painful for me and my mental state. I'm not sure how long I've been crying. I'm not sure I will get over it. I'm still lost for words now, so I will not say much.

As for this fic, I will still post the chapters I've written and posted on AFF. But for the future of 'pick up the pace', I doubt I will ever continue it. Even if I do, it feels very wrong for me to do so, painful as well. 

I will also be taking a break from writing and focusing on my mental health, which could be a week or two. I assure you all that I will not do anything rash as I have people around me to look after and support me. But in times like these, I strongly urge everyone to support each other and stay strong. 

I hope you all understand. Please stay safe and don't do anything rash as well. 

Lastly, rest easy, Kim Jonghyun. I will always love you. You've done well. 

You can follow me on my instagram @ changmins.smile, twitter @ pettychangmin, and my tumblr @ pettyhae 

Till we see next time :)


	8. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still only posting chapter's i've written and posted on AFF. Continuing this fic is still too painful for me since he's one of the main characters...please understand and thank you for the support!

Jinki's phone went off and he quickly checked the message he had received, and also checking the time. His small smile quickly turns into a frown.

 

"Shouldn't you be getting back?"  Jinki suddenly says.

 

Minho sat up from his current position. "Why so?"

 

Jinki's lips pressed into a thin line. "Siwon-hyung might be looking for you."

 

"Didn't you say that I should rebel more often?" Minho asks, now sounding confused.

 

Jinki sits up as well. Minho notices how quick Jinki's attitude changed compared to earlier. Suddenly, Minho felt that the situation itself became awkward.

 

"You're not wearing proper clothes right now. I don't want you getting sick," Jinki replies, eying Minho's light wear despite the weather right now. The latter was only wearing a very thin jacket and scarf. Jinki wonders if the boy actually took care of himself.

 

"I see..."

 

"Yeah..."

 

The atmosphere was too awkward for Minho to handle right now. He quickly stood up, dusted himself, and turns to look at Jinki.

 

Deep down, he actually felt like Jinki was telling him to go away for...whatever reason. He ignores the feeling and shoots Jinki a smile.

 

"I'll get going then," Minho spoke and turns away.

 

Jinki stood up after him.

 

"Let me take you home. It's the least I can do for you," Jinki stops Minho by grabbing his elbow. Minho's eyes fell on the hand gripping him a bit too tight. The scene felt much too familiar.

 

Minho lets Jinki take him home. Well, it was more of Jinki tailing Minho from behind just to make sure the younger didn't get lost. Minho found Jinki's doting nature charming, though to Minho it was ridiculous that Jinki would actually think that he would get lost in his own neighborhood.

 

They didn't exchange words throughout the journey home. Minho did spare Jinki side-glances once the elder caught up to his pace. Which reminded Minho that he should slow down since Jinki is relatively a slow walker and would constantly trip over nothing.

 

They reached the Choi household and Minho turned to face Jinki. The expression the elder teen wore was unreadable, he appeared as if he's lost in thought. Minho boldly places a hand on Jinki's shoulder and smiles down to him.

 

"Thanks for today, hyung."

 

Jinki tenses upon the contact, but smiled to the younger.

 

"It was nothing, Minho."

 

Minho nods one more time before heading to the door. When he looked behind, Jinki had taken off. The elder wasn't far yet, but he was pretty sure Jinki wouldn't hear him if he shouted.

 

Minho starts to fumble with his pockets to look for his keys. He was shocked to feel a tap on his shoulder. Because of his quick instincts, Minho immediately spun around, ready to defend himself.

 

He was in for a bigger shock when he found out the figure behind him was his own brother.

 

Minho's stance falters, though he was still wary.

 

"Hyung," Minho greets.

 

Siwon had a frown perched on his lips.

 

"Minho..."

 

Minho bites his lower lip. He had forgiven Siwon, but he didn't know how to start talking to him again. He figured that he should wait until Christmas, but there seems to be no escape from the current situation but to talk to his brother.

 

"Where were you?" Siwon asks worriedly.

 

Minho looks away, "I was with a friend."

 

The older Choi sighs.

 

Silence fell upon them as they continued to stare down at each other. Minho figured that he should say something.

 

"Siwon-"

 

"Minho-"

 

Siwon's eyebrows raises, "uh, you go first-"

 

Minho shook his head. "You first, hyung."

 

Siwon scratches the back of his neck.

 

"Why don't we go in first? We'll talk after dinner..."

 

Minho agreed to that.

 

**

 

Baekhyun was stunned, but he didn't push the taller male away. He enjoyed every second of the kiss and secretly wishes that it would never stop. However, Kris seems to notice his fuck up and quickly pulls away. While Kris seemed flustered, Baekhyun was looked dazed.

 

"I shouldn't have done that...shit, Junmyeon's gonna kill me..." Kris tugs his hair in frustration.

 

Baekhyun touches Kris' arm. "He doesn't have to know, Kris."

 

Kris swatted his hand away. "No, Baek. I can't look at him and lie that I...ugh. Just please get away from me." Baekhyun narrows his eyes.

 

"You're just going to kiss me and tell me to go away?" Baekhyun asks in disbelief.

 

"It's not like that-"

 

"I'm _sure_ it is."

 

"Baekhyun-"

 

Baekhyun invaded Kris' personal space, though this time with a different intention. "What? You want to protect your image as the VP? That you don't want to be known as Kris the promise breaker, Kris the cheater, or Kris the liar?"

 

"Baek, please," Kris gently pushes him away.

 

"Don't 'Baek' me!"

 

Suddenly, he gripped the younger's shoulder harshly. Baekhyun hissed in pain and the grip on his shoulder falters. Baekhyun looks up to Kris' guilty and concerned look.

 

"Tell me...what brought this up?" Kris knew Baekhyun was aware of his and Junmyeon's relationship. The whole school may not know about his relationship, but Baekhyun was one of the few who knew about it. Kris himself knew how not-straight Baekhyun, Yixing, Minho, Jonghyun, and Key were.

 

Baekhyun looks away. "Nothing did..."

 

"Please. I may not feel the same way for you right now, but I still care for your well-being. To put it harshly, you're overreacting quite lot right now," Baekhyun bites his lower lip at that.

 

Baekhyun pushes Kris' hand from his shoulder. "It's nothing for you to be concerned over. I'm sorry I overreacted and ruined your night." Kris was taken aback by his sudden change of his demeanor. Kris wondered if his words actually went through his thick head.

 

"Look, I'm not mad...I just want to know why you suddenly stormed over here and did...that," Kris awkwardly says.

 

Baekhyun looks down.

 

"You want me to be honest?"

 

Kris nods.

 

With that, all of Baekhyun's bottled up feelings emerges, though instead of pouring out his feelings, the teen bolted away from the conversation, leaving a confused Kris behind.

 

**

 

After dinner, Siwon and Minho sat on the armchairs in the living room, face to face. They hadn't spoken a word since their conversation in front of the door. Minho was nervously picking on the loose threads on the chair, while Siwon was busy running his fingers through his hair.

 

"Minho, I..." Siwon starts.

 

Minho looks up to his brother, signaling him to continue on.

 

"Firstly I...want to apologize for being a horrible brother to you. I shouldn't have gone too far that day and I understand that an apology cannot undo my actions. Truthfully, I care for you very much, Minho. I suck at these things...but I'm being sincere here. I love you very much. I would never think about controlling your life or friends. Also...you're my brother. I really don't want a stupid argument like that break the bond we have as brothers," Minho still seemed like he was not impressed.

 

Siwon presses on, "I barely get to see you anymore since I'm in college. It would be a shame if he kept on being awkward and resentful towards each other."

 

Minho looks down.

 

"You really hurt me that day, hyung." Minho didn't want to bring up the whole Jinki issue, right now, fixing the rift between him and his brother is more important.

 

Siwon remains unfazed, "as I said earlier, I don't expect you to forgive me. What I did definitely crossed the line."

 

"I..." Minho starts, "...I also want to apologize for being disrespectful and calling you out like that."

 

"You can't ignore the truth," Siwon says, referring to his past.

 

Minho shifts on his seat. "But still. I had no right to judge you like that."

 

"You have the right to express yourself," Siwon counters, "but most importantly, I'm glad we both have an understanding here. I really hate the thought of you actually despising me, Minho. The fight we had was nothing more than an unfortunate incident. It'd be best if both forget about it after the clarifications. Now please...we both need to drop the cold act...for the both of us," as soon Siwon finishes his heartfelt speech, Minho finds the corner of his mouth twitching into a smug smile.

 

Siwon notices Minho's mouth and frowns. "Don't laugh."

 

"You sound so formal, hyung."

 

With that Siwon lets out a small chuckle.

 

The two stood up and engulfed each other in their arms. They let go after a few seconds and Siwon patted Minho's head, earning a scowl from the younger and a swat to his hand.

 

"Don't even start with that."

 

Siwon laughs, "don't act like you don't like it."

 

Minho wondered if he should ask about Jinki now, though the younger thought it would be better to talk about later as he wanted to savor this moment.

 

Siwon, however, thought otherwise.

 

"About Jinki..."

 

Minho stops him.

 

"No. Not now. I know I'm not gonna like it." Minho spoke truthfully.

 

As much as he wanted to know, he preferred to save the pain for later.

 

Siwon frowns.

 

"I think it's better if you knew about it sooner."

 

Minho kept on refusing his brother. "I don't know about that...I don't want to know..."

 

He had a few guesses about what Siwon wanted to tell him about Jinki, but he pushes all thoughts aside and forces a smile on his face.

 

"Can't we spend a less heartbreaking Christmas?"

 

Siwon kept pressing on, however. "I can simply tell you know and you can't stop me, you know."

 

Minho's lips pressed into a thin line.

 

"Hyung...do me a favor...please...just this once..."

 

Siwon shook his head.

 

"It's been too long and it's important that you know now," Siwon softly says, treating Minho as if he was a delicate object. Which was not true, Minho is a strong person and Siwon believed so. Though despite the touch act he puts on, Minho could be very sensitive with feelings.

 

Minho was growing agitated.

 

"You can tell me after the month ends," he forces out.

 

"No-"

 

"Hyung, I don't want to fight."

 

Siwon knew that if he kept it from Minho any longer, the pain would actually kill the younger. He wanted to kill his brother for being so hardheaded and determined. He hated the feeling that he actually wanted to comply to the younger's requests.

 

Minho kept on talking. "What connection do you have with Jinki-hyung anyway? Why do you care so much about him?" Minho knew that it was not just Siwon that was questioning his relationship with Jinki, but Jonghyun and Yixing as well. While Jonghyun gave him his support, Yixing seemed like he didn't like the idea of Jinki and Minho being together.

 

Siwon really hated fighting. It even pushed him to the point where he decided not to tell Minho _again_ and chicken out. The look his brother gave him made him feel like he was the bad guy in this situation.

 

Siwon curses for turning soft for his own brother. For goodness sake, they were both raised to do what they think was right no matter what, not even if the consequence was to break a bond and a heart.

 

After reconsidering and another stare down between him and Minho, Siwon eventually gave in and listened to his heart instead of his brain.

 

"Fine. Just promise me you'll listen to me when I decide to tell you," Siwon says, "but also promise me not to get any closer with Jinki. All I can say is that you'll end up in a place you wouldn't like if you do so."

 

Minho narrows his eyes, not liking whatever Siwon was implying.

 

"Just let me enjoy a good Christmas..." Minho mutters. Deep inside, he couldn't ignore the raging anxiety within him. He wanted nothing more than for Siwon to tell him the truth, but Minho would rather not know. He would hate his brother for not telling him earlier.

 

On the other hand, Siwon felt like he disappointed Donghae.


	9. eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still chapters I've posted on AFF. 
> 
> idk if I do want to continue it, but i'm sort of leaning towards 'yes' though I just cant write as long as Jonghyun is one of the main characters...it feels disrespectful for me...but to remove him from the story...?

Minho spent all night thinking about the 'date' he had with Jinki. He kept thinking about the words Jinki spoke to him; every single one of them.

 

The soft and gentle voice of Lee Jinki kept on replaying in his head.

 

He had the most adorable, yet handsome face with the most beautiful smile...in Minho's opinion anyway.

 

He grins to himself thinking about Lee Jinki. Minho buries his face into his pillow to muffle his embarrassing noises. Whatever noise he was making, he did not want his parents to misinterpret it. Even Minho himself did not believe what he was doing right now. Squealing like a kid about their first crush in first grade. 

 

Though the things Siwon told him...or at least the things he implied interrupted his happy thoughts.

 

Though his worries went away as Minho quickly fell into slumber.

 

The next morning, Minho was awakened by the smell of breakfast and the sound of laughter downstairs.

 

He rose from his bed while rubbing his eyes and yawning. It was cold outside, though he was only wearing a large shirt and shorts. His socks had slipped off his feet during the night.

 

He puts on a sweater before tiredly making his way downstairs. There he sees his parents and Siwon sitting on the couch, drinking some hot beverage and sharing laughter. Minho was grateful that he decided to call it truce with Siwon; otherwise, the current situation would be very awkward for the brothers.

 

Though he was grimly reminded of the dark truth awaiting him. He pushes those thoughts away and plops himself next to his brother.

 

"Good morning, kiddo," his dad says, "thought you'd never wake up." He finishes the sentence with a light chuckle, earning a scowl from his youngest son.

 

Siwon casts him a worried glance, but Minho reassures the elder with a soft smile. "Yeah...didn't wanna ruin my nice dream." Minho looks down to his phone to see a text from Jinki. He contemplates with himself whether he should reply or not, but the look his older brother gave him made Minho put his phone into his pocket.

 

"Let's just enjoy the morning now."

 

Siwon's eyes were on Minho throughout breakfast, which made the younger feel very, very uneasy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Choi were busy chatting with each other about visiting their parents after Christmas and possibly leaving Siwon and Minho home by themselves since Mrs. Choi wasn't fond of leaving the house empty all by itself.

 

Minho tries to distract himself by listening to his parents' conversation, however Siwon's stare really bothered him. He wanted to tell his older brother to stop it, though he'd probably cause too much of a scene in the small dining table, so he decided against it.

 

"So Minho, how are your grades?" Mrs. Choi asks her son.

 

Minho shrugs. "They're alright. I mean, nothing extraordinary, but it could land me in good universities."

 

Mrs. Choi frowns. "That's great, but I'm sure you can do much better than average. Don't you want to go to prestigious schools?"

 

Mr. Choi places a hand on his wife's shoulder. "You do remember that Minho can get a scholarship through football. His coach did tell us that he's an exceptional player."

 

Siwon chuckles. "You sure he said that not cause he's a total kissass to daddy Choi?" Siwon jokingly says. Minho rolls his eyes and playfully kicks Siwon's shin under the table, to which the latter blocked his kick just in time.

 

Minho's father's a well-known football manager and it definitely wasn't a secret from public. Everyone knew what Minho's father worked as and it wasn't rare for teachers to try and brown nose their way up to earn Minho's father's attention.

 

Mr. Choi laughs. "I've learned to ignore people like those. But no, even I could tell that he wasn't bluffing." Mr. Choi ruffles his son's hair. "I can already tell my son will make it to the big leagues one day."

 

Minho flushes red, but he was grinning up to his father.

 

"Ah, you're just flattering me too much, dad," Minho says.

 

"I wouldn't do that," his father says, sounding surprised by Minho's statement. "You're talented, Minho. It's very promising for you to get a scholarship from it."

 

"Or you could join the student council president. I heard some schools look for students who's been one," Siwon says. "That's how I got my scholarship."

 

"Yeah but you were student council president," Minho deadpans, "I'm pretty sure it'll be a small chance for me to end up the same fate as you, hyung."

 

"Don't say that. You could be student council president...I mean, who knows?" Siwon counters his younger brother.

 

Minho frowns. His thoughts immediately went to Jinki and his friends. He was reminded of the date he had with Jinki, where he indirectly promised that he'd try for the student council. He didn't have to be president or anything, but at least a member of it.

 

Minho groans, he realized he would have to take those stupid selections in order to get a spot in the student council.

 

"Won't being a member bother my studies instead?" Minho retorts.

 

Siwon smirks, "that's where the challenge is at. Are you that good enough of a guy to be able to divide your time for your activities? Everyone knows that an incompetent person would be very overwhelmed by it and eventually give up, right?"

 

"You're very knowledgeable about this..."

 

Siwon snickers. "I mean, I was part of it."

 

Minho raises a brow, amused. "Your grades did well I assume?" That had Siwon look at him dead in the eye with a murderous look. Their parents fell into a fit of laughter while Minho grins cheekily.

 

Siwon waves them off. "Well you know the saying, don't follow big brother's footsteps if he trips."

 

Minho's smile fell, not adorning a serious look. "I've never heard of that saying."

 

Siwon rolls his eyes. "Forget it." He looks down to his untouched waffles and saw that Minho was already halfway through it. Siwon grimaces at the sight of the rest of their dining table filled with sickeningly sweet food.

 

He wonders how his younger brother was able to gobble them all up in one go.

 

**

 

JINKI <3

 

_'Merry Christmas, Ming!'_

 

_'My lil bro gave me a carton of milk haha he's adorable."_

 

Minho smiled at the new nickname Jinki gave him. Minho wanted to reply back, though it seems that Jinki had replied the moment he noticed Minho reading his messages.

 

_'Ah you're so cold :" you didn't reply to hyung. So mean'_

 

Minho chuckles at Jinki's playfulness.

 

**'haha sorry hyung i just opened my messages'**

 

**'pls dont be mad at me:('**

 

Jinki replies in an instant.

 

_'Haha jk i'm not mad :p'_

 

Minho finds himself smiling even wider every time Jinki texts him cutely.

 

**'you say that but you're probably planning to murder me:'('**

 

_'Oh my, am I that easy to read?'_

 

Jinki never failed to make Minho laugh with his hilarious texts and sense of humor.

 

**'Apparently so :p'**

 

_'Disrespectful brat >:('_

 

**'haha'**

 

**'btw merry christmas hyung!! <3'**

 

Jinki stopped replying after that and Minho took it as a sign that he was probably busy spending time with his family. Minho closes their chat and messages Yixing to ask if he'd like to hang out tonight with Baekhyun, to which the elder told him to call instead. 

 

Only to have his invitation rejected.

 

"What do you mean you don't want to hang out?" Minho asks Yixing, sounding confused and surprised. The older boy on the other line let out an audible sigh.

 

"I meant what I said. I can't bring myself to see Baekhyun right now," Yixing explains. Minho narrows his eyes in suspicion. It wasn't unusual for Yixing to be annoyed at Baekhyun at times, though not to the point of avoiding him like this. With that, Minho continues to press on.

 

However, Minho contemplates whether he should press on or leave him be. It was Christmas and all Minho wanted to do was hang out with his two best friends and maybe see Jinki afterwards...and of course, Jinki's friends as well.

 

"And why is that?"

 

Yixing went quiet and Minho patiently waited for the other to say something.

 

"We fought."

 

"About?"

 

"..." Again, Yixing didn't say anything, which irritated Minho to no end. He swore he would march his way to Yixing's house if the latter would ignore him even during phone calls.

 

"Yixing-"

 

"Minho, there's something you really need to know about and it's very important that you know about this," Yixing says in one go. This time, Minho was the one who fell quiet upon hearing the other's response.

 

"What...is it?"

 

"It's about Jinki-hyung."

 

For weeks there had been people here and there trying to start conversations with Minho concerning Jinki. It's always been Jinki. Minho was flattered that people noticed his very obvious crush on the elder, but he couldn't help but feel that something fishy is going on. That something about Jinki screamed off.

 

Right now, Minho was terrified.

 

Terrified to know the truth because he knew Yixing would straight up tell him without sugar coating anything due to his straightforward nature.

 

Well, Minho could always end the call. Even though he seeks the truth, he could find out about it any other day. Just not during Christmas.

 

"Look, I need to-" Minho tries to excuse himself from the call, but Yixing was immediately onto him.

 

"If you dare to end the call, Choi Minho, I will plot your downfall right here and now. And you know I don't fuck around," Yixing snaps, which immediately shut Minho up.

 

Minho could feel his heartbeat grow faster knowing that the truth was right around the corner.

 

He tries to prepare for the worst, but apparently his stupid crush for Lee Jinki clouded his intuition and judgment. Again, love is such a strong feeling. Before Minho could try and reason with Yixing, the elder quickly went for the kill.

 

"Lee Jinki doesn't love you, Choi Minho. He's only fucking around with your feelings," Yixing says without skipping a beat. "He's in a motherfucking _relationship_ for God's sake."


	10. nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still chapters I've posted on AFF. this is the last chapter i've posted in AFF, so I'm putting this fic on a hiatus, will probs start writing again after I feel better. Thanks for reading!

"Siwon-hyung," the aforementioned man turns around and met a pair of eyes, a pair of eyes filled with dejection and despair. The older man immediately figured out what was on his younger brother's mind. The tone of his voice was different than usual, where as the younger brother he knew was brash, loud, and full of confidence. The teen before him wasn't someone he was familiar with.

 

His posture was slumped forwards, something an athlete like his brother would never do.

 

Siwon takes another good look at his brother's state before speaking.

 

Minho ducks his head, which halted Siwon's words from slipping out. Siwon tries to observe whether his brother was crying or not. He sees no tears dripping down the floor, which concludes that his brother was indeed not crying, though it didn't mean that Siwon was any less worried for him.

 

Minho stood on the same spot for what seemed like hours. Siwon didn't dare to try and hug or soothe his brother. He believed Minho was mature enough to handle this.

 

Minho raises his head again; only this time he had one hand covering his face. Though what was there to hide? Anyone within a mile radius can hear his choked sobs. Truthfully, he doesn't expect his brother to try and hug him, let alone try to soothe him. His brother had warned him from the beginning, yet Minho, being the hardhead he was, charged forward only to fall into a ditch.

 

Well it was partially Siwon's fault that he ended up like this. If only his dumbass of a brother would actually tell him the reason _why_ he Jinki wasn't a good guy to begin with. Though Minho supposes that he was also a dumbass for rejecting Siwon's offer on telling him the reason. Both sides were afraid that Minho would get hurt, heck, everyone was afraid. Jonghyun, Yixing, Siwon, Jinki himself...

 

Was Minho grateful that Yixing told him? Or did he want to continue the fantasy he lived in?

 

Despite it being short-lived, Minho felt as if those were the best moments of his life.

 

"Minho."

 

Minho looks up, his expression blank, though he looked like he's cried a few tears.

 

Siwon sighs. He walks over to pat his brother's back.

 

"Tell me everything," Minho croaks out.

 

Siwon gestures his brother to sit down next to him on the couch. Their parents were busy in the kitchen and the two brothers plans to help them with it after handling the current matter.

 

The elder carefully watches his brother's hands playing with the material of his pants. Siwon concludes that he will say no more until Siwon decided to explain.

 

"Let me clear this first," Siwon starts, "it's not that Jinki is a cheater, but he's...well...how do I say it..." Silence fell between them until Siwon finally started speaking again. "I've known him since he first got into our school. He was a first year and I was a third year."

 

Minho nods, already knowing this piece of information.

 

"I was acquainted to him a month into the first semester. He was one of the first years who stood out to us third years, it was natural for us to try and talk to him," explains the older man. Minho thought that was true, it happened with his year as well. Minho wasn't one of the first years that stood out much but Baekhyun was one of them. Some seniors had approached him and invited him to hang out with them, though Minho wasn't sure with the activities they usually do. "Jinki was a shy and smart kid, though he's sociable and outgoing once he opens up. We needed to approach him first in order to get his attention. I was one of the seniors who approached him first back then."

 

That didn't really sound like Jinki.

 

"One day, a friend of mine fell for him," Siwon continues, "Jinki was confessed to not long after and they started going out together."

 

"And then?"

 

"They broke up after 3 months. The break up was apparently so bad that my friend hit rock bottom," Siwon grimaces.

 

Minho laughs dryly. "Sounds like what's happening right now."

 

Siwon, however, frowns upon Minho's statement.

 

"What did he do to your friend?"

 

"We couldn't really blame Jinki for not being very touchy in public, he also didn't want a lot of people to know about their relationship," came Siwon's uneasy reply, "Jinki was still bombarded with confessions from several people despite being in a relationship."

 

Minho leans his head against his hand, listening to his brother without facing the older man's eyes.

 

Siwon's eyes shifts between his brother and the empty space in front of him, contemplating whether he should continue or not.

 

"Continue."

 

**

 

Yixing watches Baekhyun with a disinterested look. The shorter male sat himself on the couch of the elder's living room. Yixing's parents had welcomed Baekhyun home with open arms, ignoring the fact that it was supposed to be family time.

 

 _'Any friend of yours is our friend! And friends are family!'_ Yixing's father had said, causing his son to cringe and slam his head repetitively against the wall.

 

"What the hell happened last night? I swear to god, we're all being jinxed," grumbles Yixing.

 

Yixing would usually be careful choosing his words in his own house, but his parents were too cheerful to even bother about it.

 

"I kissed someone's boyfriend and I wasn't on something when I did it," Baekhyun deadpans.

 

"Why."

 

"Because he promised me something he never bothered to fulfill. I thought I'd give him a piece of my mind," came Baekhyun's answer.

 

Yixing saw the clear sadness in Baekhyun's eyes. The younger tried so hard to act as if it didn't bother him or it didn't really affect him, but his eyes were clear as day and Baekhyun was hurt. Perhaps his and Kris' history went back before high school. Perhaps there were things Yixing didn't know about and he assumed Baekhyun was in the wrong where he might not.

 

"Kris?"

 

"Who else?"

 

Yixing nods slowly. His fingers awkwardly fumble with the edge of his sleeves, waiting for Baekhyun to say something else. Though it appears that the younger is probably going to sulk for the rest of the day.

 

"I'm sorry," Yixing blurts out.

 

That caught Baekhyun's attention.

 

"For?"

 

"Last night," Yixing continues, casting his gaze downwards. "What I said to you...was shitty."

 

Baekhyun slightly smiles. "Understandable. I mean- I get what you're trying to say."

 

Yixing looks up again to see the younger smiling to him. "But I have to know...where do your morals lie when it comes to relationships? You and I seem to have different opinions from what I've seen before. Just answer truthfully, I won't judge you in any way, even if it's horribly fucked up."

 

Baekhyun sighs.

 

"A promise comes before any sort of circumstances. I draw the line somewhere, but when I want something..." his voice becomes quiet, "...I must have it. Kris promised me something and he needs to fulfill it no matter what."

 

Yixing nods understandingly.

 

"Such a hard headed guy you are."

 

Baekhyun shrugs. "I get that a lot. Many people have questioned my morals, but to this point, I don't really care what they think anymore. Even if I try to stop myself, I can't. It's like my natural instincts, when I see something that doesn't go the way that I wanted to, I'll do anything to change it. I admit that I go too far sometimes, but I'm definitely working on that."

 

Their eyes finally meet and Yixing could see the determination in the smaller teen's eyes. Baekhyun was very serious about what he meant.

 

"Speaking of morals and relationships..." Baekhyun trails, "how's Minho?"

 

That caused the elder to freeze. He tore his eyes away from Baekhyun and onto the clock on the wall. 11 AM. He had phoned Minho hours before and the other teen had yet to give any sort of reaction besides muttering a "thank you for telling me" in reply to the big revelation. It worried Yixing to no end as soon as Minho ended the call without another word.

 

"I told him this morning," Yixing's monotonous answer came, "he didn't take it well."

 

Baekhyun hides his face into his hands. "I knew we should've told him sooner."

 

Yixing barks out a dry laugh. "You were pretty supportive of him going out with Jinki last night."

 

Baekhyun cringes. "I just wanted him to be happy...to enjoy his last moments with the love of his life before we drop the bomb."

 

Yixing frowns in reply. "It would hurt him even more if we wait much longer. I knew it was either up to me or Siwon to tell Minho about it since Jonghyun pretty much blew it and ended up crying by the sidewalk."

 

"I suppose," Baekhyun admits. "Minho just seemed so...happy. He was really smitten with Jinki and I didn't want to break it down to him. I'd feel terrible."

 

Yixing rolls his eyes at Baekhyun's hypocrisy.  

 

"Sure you would," Yixing replies dryly.

 

Baekhyun furrows his brows and points to Yixing. "Hey, I thought we were cool."

 

"We are," Yixing stresses, "I just _can't help_ expressing what I feel about _your_ opinions."

 

Baekhyun clicks his tongue. "Touché."

 

"Anyways," Yixing continues, "I'm sure I did the right thing here. Who knows how Minho might have reacted if he finds out by himself. He'd _hate_ us for 'betraying' him." Yixing runs his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Why didn't Jinki even tell him in the first place anyway?"

 

"Because he's a dumbass," Baekhyun drawls, "he was too oblivious about Minho's feelings until Jonghyun told him."

 

"Jonghyun told him? When?"

 

Baekhyun thought for a moment. "Well, partially Jonghyun. It was mostly Key. When Key found Jonghyun crying in the sidewalk, he decided to set things straight. Even the heartless and cold Kim Kibum didn't have the heart to break it to Minho either. Surprising, isn't it? He and Jonghyun phoned Jinki and told him about how Minho felt for him and that he should be careful."

 

"How did Jinki react?" Yixing enquires, genuinely curious about this new piece of information.

 

"Jinki was surprised, but he definitely saw it coming by the underwhelming reaction Key got," Baekhyun answers, "Jinki wanted to tell Minho himself, but he pretended to remain oblivious towards him, somewhat avoiding him as well, but he wanted to ensure Minho that they were nothing more than friends."

 

"By sending him heart emojis?" Yixing deadpans.

 

Baekhyun chuckles dryly. "He was planning on going slow with the letting go, but I guess his plan is ruined now. He made Minho fall for him harder and making the situation even stickier. I'm glad you had the balls to break it to Minho. It's for the best."

 

"Should we visit Minho after this?" Yixing spoke softly. Deep inside, he somewhat regretted telling Minho about it. Everything was just fine, Minho would have probably found another guy to obsess over and move on from Jinki when the elder graduates. Minho would've probably had the best first year of his life if it wasn't for Yixing's intervention. He ruined Minho's perfect world and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Yixing was worried that he ruined their friendship, he wonders if everything would be the same after this. Not only would it ruin his and Minho's friendship, but with Baekhyun's as well. He would have to choose sides if Minho decides to part ways. It was either of them or none at all.

 

"I think we should give him space," came Baekhyun's quiet answer. Yixing knew the feeling of guilt has started to consume them. There was no denying that Yixing felt shitty now.

 

"Siwon probably told him about the whole situation anyways," Yixing tries to reassure. "But...for how long are we going to avoid him?"

 

"We're not avoiding him," Baekhyun retorts.  "We're just giving him the time he needs. Knowing Minho, he'd probably get back on his own two feet real quick. Faster than you can say 'Kim Junmyeon's a fucking hardass'."

 

Yixing snorts.

 

However, it was doubtful that Minho would get over it so quickly.

 

"I doubt that honestly," Yixing replies sadly. So this is how it felt like to be the bad guy? Why were tears welling up in his eyes? It was not something to cry about!

 

Baekhyun watches Yixing cradle his face with his hands, hiding from the younger. "Are you crying?"

 

Yixing shakes his head, but a loud sniffle was obviously heard.

 

Baekhyun frowns. It was unusual for the elder to look so expressive. Baekhyun had yet to see this side of Yixing after months of knowing him. He stands up and walks over to the taller teen and sat down besides him. He pats his friend's back.

 

"I feel so shitty," Yixing croaks.

 

Baekhyun nods understandingly. "I know."

 

"He's going to hate me. I know how much he loved Jinki. He's going to hate me, Baek. I took his happiness from him," Yixing sputters out.

 

"Xing, don't cry..."

 

Yixing shakes his head. He lifts his head up and wiped the tears away from the corners of his eyes. "I-I'm not."

 

"None of us knew how he was going to take it anyway," says Baekhyun, "we've always seen Minho as the strong guy."

 

Perhaps he was right.

 

**

 

"Someone was quite persistent with Jinki and Jinki didn't want to break his heart. He eventually tended to this one guy in his grade. We all told Jinki to reject him immediately and reminded him that he's in a relationship and he was being too nice to this one guy,"

 

"...Then?" It was all too familiar for Minho. Much too familiar.

 

"Jinki neglected his then-current boyfriend and acted way too close to this other guy. This other guy misinterpreted Jinki's actions towards him - it wasn't his fault since Jinki himself wasn't clear about it as well - and went around proclaiming that Jinki was trying to date him. Word got to Jinki's boyfriend fast and he wasn't happy about it. He confronted Jinki, but of course, he reassures that he was planning something to make the guy's heartbreak hurt less. Jinki's boyfriend was angry that he cared about the guy's feelings more than him. Nevertheless, Jinki carried on with his plan."

 

Minho was quiet as he continues to listen to Siwon's story.

 

Siwon looks at Minho, his eyes looking somewhat wary. "Uh, don't be offended, Minho, but he started treating this guy like how he treated you," Siwon says lowly. Minho felt his heart clench at that. His palms grew sweaty by every second. "Jinki still neglected his boyfriend and came off cold to him; ignoring his advances and brushing him off most of the time. It changed when I stepped in."

 

Minho was still frozen on his seat.

 

"I didn't care that my position as his senior scared Jinki, but I went and confronted him about it. I was blinded by anger and Jinki was blinded by his stupid plan to please everyone. We eventually got into a huge fight. At first it was just nasty words thrown at each other. As it went on, things got physical when I called him...unthinkable terms," Siwon grimaces at the last sentence, "Jinki packs a mean punch if you trigger him the wrong way. He started crying as we both kept on throwing punches at each other." Minho remembered Siwon coming home with bruises on his face, looking very much pissed about something. Minho had only been 14 then.

 

However, Minho couldn't imagine the sweet, sweet Lee Jinki engaging a physical fight with a guy almost twice his size. What Siwon said must've been very awful.

 

"What did you call him?"

 

Siwon scratches his neck. "I made a comment on how he was acting promiscuous. Slurs and all," Siwon answers, voice filled with shame.

 

Minho nods slowly. "Continue."

 

"His boyfriend - Sungmin - found out about our fight. They broke it off right there, and guess what? Jinki started dating the guy he supposedly didn't want to date," Siwon says spitefully. "I had to watch Sungmin's dead eyes watching Jinki and his new boyfriend acting all lovey-dovey in public. Sungmin was fucking heartbroken; he kept asking why Jinki never acted that way with him, why Jinki moved on so fast. I had to watch my friend crumble before me, failing his exams, and to the point where his personality changed. He thought Jinki was too embarrassed to be around him or something."

 

Minho finally understood the hatred Siwon had for Jinki. He knew it was probably tough on him to retell the story to Minho as well.

 

"He was trying to ask for my forgiveness by getting close to you."

 

Minho's heart stopped at that.

 

Jinki had used him.

 

Of course.

 

It should've been clear.

 

Why would the student council president approach him in the first place anyways? 

 

Minho chuckles dryly.

 

_"Hey, aren't you Siwon-hyung's brother?" Minho turned around to meet the owner of the voice._

 

_The voice belonged to none other than Lee Jinki._

 

_'Hyung? They must've been close...' Minho thought. Though all thoughts in his head abruptly blanked out after seeing the smile on the senior's face. Minho felt his jaw drop a little and quickly recovered from it._

 

_Minho greeted his senior before answering his question. "Uh, yea."_

 

_Minho mentally face palmed for his half-assed answer. 'Good job, Choi. Way to sound interested...' he thought to himself._

 

_Minho felt his face go red when Jinki suddenly laughed. "You're just as awkward as he was!"_

 

_Minho prayed for the floor to swallow him right there._

 

_Jinki noticed Minho's discomfort. His face twisted in concern. "Sorry, did I go too far there?"_

 

_"..." Truly, Minho could not even form words with his mouth as Jinki leaned a little too close for his liking._

 

He could feel his heartbeat thumping loudly and fast, his palms growing clammier than before.

 

_Jinki turned to follow Minseok when the latter yelled at him to hurry up. Though before he got too far, he turned back to Minho._

 

_"I didn't catch your name."_

 

_"It's Minho."_

 

_Jinki smiled at him one last time before turning away._

 

_Minho felt his knees turn to jelly as Jinki's smile became permanently carved into his mind._

 

The light in Minho's eyes had long faded.

 

_"I really, really believe that you'll be like me, Siwon, and Junmyeon, Minho. I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling," Jinki suddenly says._

 

_"You're very enthusiastic about the whole student council thing, aren't you?" Minho turns his head to look at Jinki, who was smiling up to the sky. Minho felt himself fall even deeper for Jinki when the beautiful face of his turn to look at him. At this point, Minho was sure he was in love with the elder._

 

It was all a setup.

 

It was laughable for Minho to fall for someone so quick.

 

Was this what they call puppy love? Minho shouldn't be so heartbroken by it then.

 

He shouldn't be breaking because of it.

 

He shouldn't be curled up in his bed crying his eyes out on Christmas for it.

 

He was just a crush.

 

It wasn't love.

 

Nothing was ever genuine between them after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't hate on jinki in this fic:(


	11. five-ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some consoling and a short time skip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been...a while since I last touched this fic. I won't lie that it was hard for me since this is a SHINee-centric fic. I decided to continue this fic for several reasons, one being that I want to finish things I've started, second being the fact that I've always wanted to continue writing it, but having Jonghyun here was painful for me to continue.
> 
> I miss and love Jonghyun so much and it's painful for me to even talk or write about him- so I couldn't include him in future chapters as a main character since, like I said, it's too painful for me. I really hate to make his role a minor one, but...yeah....
> 
> He'll still make small appearances here and there since I can't completely disinclude him! It's weird not to talk about all 5 members in a SHINee fic because they're like,,,a whole package for me. 
> 
> I want to thank everyone who patiently waited for the update! I really appreciate you all! Sorry for the long wait but I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Christmas break would soon be over, meaning that school would soon start again. Meaning that they would soon reach the end of school year soon and all the third years would soon graduate.

 

Minho stared blankly at the window with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands.

 

Siwon came passing through the living room and spared a pitiful glance towards his brother. Knowing that the younger was in no mood for talking, the elder merely patted his head before going out of the house.

 

Minho sighs deeply.

 

He ignores the fifteenth call he received that day, he guesses that it was Baekhyun, knowing the younger had a knack of going off at people whenever there was some sort of conflict, Yixing would be the type to keep quiet until Minho's ready.

 

"Minho," his mother's voice broke the silence, "someone's at the door for you."

 

He inwardly curses, he guesses that it was either Baekhyun or Yixing.

 

He places the cup on the coffee table and slowly made his way to the front door.

 

He was surprised to see that it was Jonghyun instead.

 

The shorter teen looks at him sheepishly, a hint of guilt in his eyes. Minho could see him visibly shuddering in the front door, perhaps due to his thin garments. Minho motions him to come inside and Jonghyun smiles lightly at that.

 

Jonghyun was furiously rubbing his hands together. "Cold weather outside, yea? My hands are freezing under these gloves."

 

Minho eyes him from head to toe.

 

"Maybe it's the sleeveless shirt you're wearing," drawls Minho.

 

Jonghyun shook his head. "I didn't bother changing after getting up."

 

Minho hums and sits himself back on the spot he was on earlier, while Jonghyun sat next to him. Minho watches Jonghyun scanning the living room with carefree smile perched on his lips. It made Minho feel quite irritated to see someone so...lively.

 

"Why are you here?" Minho drones, not caring that he had dropped formalities.

 

Jonghyun turns to him, his bright smile had fallen from his face. "Well, I kind of woke up to a mess in the student council members group chat. Sooyoung started going off about uh, Jinki, being a, as I quote from Choi Sooyoung herself, 'a huge dickhead'. Then Yuri started yelling that she should've taken Siwon's side when the drama from a while ago happened, and Minseok was trying really hard to console the whole problem. I think Hyoyeon spammed Jinki's KKT as well."

 

Minho's eyes widen. "That's a lot to take in- hold on, how did they know I know about _that_?" He felt the same churning feeling whenever he thought about it, but for the sake of this, he decided to ignore it for a little while.

 

Jonghyun scratches his neck. "Siwon-hyung told Yixing, and Yixing told Baekhyun, whereas Baekhyun told Minseok, and Minseok told me, and I told Kibum, and Kibum let it slip while talking to Sooyoung."

 

Minho bites his lower lip. "So...Jinki hasn't said anything?" Minho's question came out sounding forced.

 

Jonghyun frowns. "This isn't like him at all...trust me."

 

Minho looks away. "The fact that he didn't even say anything to me yet just...hurts. Did you know he left the night we went out?"

 

Jonghyun's brow quirks at that.

 

"He just...suddenly said he had to go. And the other morning, when I first found out, he didn't reply to me," Minho softly replies. "Maybe...maybe I was too forward with him, maybe I was being too obvious- I mean, I get that he would avoid me because of it, but why didn't he tell me he had a fucking boyfriend, I wouldn't have misinterpreted his intentions towards me. Tell me, hyung, am I in the wrong or is he in the wrong-?"

 

Jonghyun places a hand over Minho's shoulder, stopping the younger from hyperventilating. "Woah there, kiddo. Breathe."

 

Minho bit his lower lip as he felt his heart clench his pain again in the memory of what happened the past few days.

 

After a moment, Minho's breathings slowed down and a gentle but sad smile crept up Jonghyun's lips.

 

"Are you sure it's only a crush you have?"

 

Minho sat quiet for a moment.

 

"I think...I love him."

 

There was a pregnant pause.

 

Jonghyun scratched his neck, at loss for words. Of course Minho would call it love, the kid was pretty much obsessed with Jinki.

 

"Minho..." he starts, "this is awkward for me to say since we aren't close but we're all aware that you love him."

 

Minho's cheeks reddens and he faces away from Jonghyun, hanging his head low in embarrassment.

 

"I...figured..." Minho chuckles dryly. "Does Jinki...?"

 

Jonghyun's mouth presses into a thin line.

 

"Honestly? I doubt that. Jinki's smart but pretty dense. He feels that as long as he has a boyfriend, he turns blind towards other people's intentions toward him...even his own intentions," Jonghyun mutters, "I don't think Joon is aware of this as well."

 

Minho quirks a brow. "Joon?"

 

Jonghyun shook his head. "His boyfriend. Joon is a nickname, his real name is Changseon."

 

Minho frowns, lifting his head up a little. He inhales deeply and slowly breathes out.

 

"Did Jinki really use me...to ask for forgiveness from my brother?" Minho slowly asks, afraid of the outcome. Jonghyun seemed surprised at the question, though his shocked look was replaced by a guilty one, which confirmed the answer to his question.

  
"I knew it," Minho hisses.

 

Jonghyun huffs.

 

"People can be assholes, Minho," he mutters, "Jinki doesn't mean to be one, but it's unintentional."

 

An odd feeling crept up Minho's stomach.

 

"Do you think...I should tell Jinki?"

 

Jonghyun didn't reply to that.

 

"I would advice that," he replies, causing Minho to look at him, "but I can't guarantee your friendship with him afterwards."

 

Minho remained expressionless.

 

"He's going to college anyway," he replies curtly.

 

It hurt Minho that his confession to Jinki would turn out to be a waste. On the bright side, it'll lift the weight out of his shoulders and Minho can finally breathe again. However, he knew about the heartbreak that would come afterwards once Jinki turns him down.

 

Either way, there was no good ending.

 

Yet he could always move on.

 

"Speaking of college," Jonghyun began, "I'll be studying overseas. Somewhere really far." Minho widens his eyes, his thoughts immediately went to Key. Jonghyun chuckles to himself, "I haven't told Kibum and Jinki about it though. They'll try to drag me back to Korea."

 

Minho snorted at that.

 

"I think you'd be the one crying instead," Minho teases, earning a light slap on the head from the elder.

 

After a while, Jonghyun decided that it would be best if he were to return home. He bid Minho farewell and started making his way to the door.

 

"Wish me luck. I'm going to tell Kibum today and Jinki tomorrow," Jonghyun says when he opens the front door.

 

"Good luck, hyung," Minho chuckles as he waves Jonghyun goodbye.

 

**

 

"Hah! I beat you again," Baekhyun jumps up and down excitedly a child. He points a finger at a tired-looking Yixing. "You call Minho!"

 

Yixing sighs.

 

"Man Minho would feel like shit if he knew that we play rock-paper-scissors to get one of us to call him," Yixing drawls, reaching up for his phone.

 

He dials Minho's number and presses the phone against his ear.

 

He waited patiently for the other to pick up, only to hear a female voice, telling him to call again later on.

 

"Huh," Yixing narrows his eyes, "Minho should be fine now, right?"

 

Baekhyun shrugs.

 

"Should we just go over?" Yixing turns to face the younger.

 

Baekhyun bit his lower lip nervously.

 

"I uh, don't think that's a good idea, Yixing," Baekhyun says honestly.

 

Yixing stares at his phone some more before replying.

 

"Why not?"

 

Baekhyun sat down again. "Like you said, you broke the news to him, you're automatically the asshole now. You're the bad guy."

 

Yixing raises a brow.

 

"And what does that make you?"

 

"Your accomplice," he deadpans.

 

They both sighed, knowing they were right.

 

"Let's...talk to him once Christmas break is over..." Yixing drones.

 

"Agreed."

 

**

 

**T I M E S K I P - A MONTH BEFORE GRADUATION**

Minho watches Baekhyun and Yixing from afar.

 

The two were conversing in a table full of people Minho did not recognize. He observes the group carefully, snorting a little when Baekhyun started choking on his pasta and Yixing reluctantly went to assist him while the others laughed at the scene.

 

It's been months since they've last spoken to each other.

 

After the incident on January, both Yixing and Baekhyun came to talk to him. However, Minho was quite disappointed with them and felt like they abandoned him throughout the holiday and left him to weep over his pitiful self. Yixing went to retort that if it wasn't for his 'stupid crush' and his 'overly sensitive ass', they would've been hanging out during Christmas break.

 

Minho had no more tears to shed so he merely rolled his eyes at Yixing's statement and told him to 'fuck off', which sparked an angry Baekhyun, asking him 'what the fuck is wrong with you'. The blame was clearly not supposed to be on him so Minho flipped them off and told them that their friendship was over.

 

High school friends don't matter, a wise guy once told him.

 

Strangely, Minho found comfort in the form of Kim Kibum, his sworn enemy a long time ago and now turned best friend. Minho had comforted Kibum when the latter felt sad that Jonghyun had to go overseas for college. Surprisingly, despite their differences, they hit off pretty well.

 

Key and Jonghyun had broken their relationship off before the other had to leave for college. However, they did remain friends.

 

Minho felt Key's watchful eyes on him, which began to annoy him a little.

 

"Stop looking at me," came Minho's monotonous voice.

 

Key rolls his eyes.

 

"You've been staring at them for the past few minutes, it's starting to look unsettling, okay?" grumbles Key, to which Minho ignores.

 

"Shut up..."

 

Key takes a sip from his drink.

 

"You miss them, don't you?"

 

Minho huffs. Ever since Minho told Key that the three ended their friendship, Key was insistent that Minho did not want to end the friendship and that he was being irrational when he made that decision, and also that it was because he too driven by his broken heart.

 

"Technically speaking, yes, I do. We all miss things we had. But no, I'd rather not have friends who keep things from you. You're quite bitchy but at least your honest." Minho's statement earned an eye roll from Key.

 

"I made you cry too though."

 

"You were just being honest that my sweater was hideous. I can understand constructive criticism."

 

"You still bawled that I told you that you looked like a goddamn garbage bag in it."

 

"You were a dick about it, shut up."

 

With Siwon going back to college, Minho had felt lonely at home since then. He started shopping for clothes, clothes that he thought suited him, but unfortunately, were hideous in the eyes of Kim Kibum.

 

Key was pretty lonely after the breakup as well and started tagging along with Minho whenever he went shopping. It annoyed Minho to no end to listen to Key yack on about fashion but he wasn't the worst company.

 

Key snickers and went back to eating his pasta, while Minho had finally turned away from the painful sight before him.

 

Suddenly, he heard Key choking on his food and Minho's eyes widens in alarm.

 

"Hey, you okay man?" he sounded a bit panicked.

 

Key shook his head and weakly pointed towards the cafeteria entrance.

 

Minho's jaw drops.

 

Walking through the door was none other than Lee Jinki and a man, who Minho guesses was Joon. They were walking closely though their hands weren't touching. Joon had a bright smile on his face while Jinki seemed expressionless.

 

It was the first time Minho properly saw Jinki since Christmas break.

 

In contrary to what Minho had said to Jonghyun, he did not confess to Jinki after break was over, neither did he even talk to him or meet up with him.

 

Out of anger, Minho had blocked all of Jinki's social media accounts, thus cutting off their ties permanently.

 

Minho quickly looked down when Jinki glanced at him.

 

While he no longer cares for Jinki (something he tells himself but it's obviously untrue), the elder's pale skin and skinny frame did worry Minho a little.

 

While the young man was lost in thought, he fails to notice Key poking at his arm in panic.

 

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a dreamy and familiar, yet bittersweet voice.

 

"Minho."

 

Minho had failed to notice that Jinki went all the way to his table. He could see Yixing and Baekhyun discreetly observing them from afar. Minho also noticed that the cafeteria had quieted down a little. Their little drama had spread like wildfire so it was no surprise that the whole school knew about it already.

 

Minho forces himself to look up and face Jinki. The elder still had the exact same features from the last time the met, only he appeared to be skinnier, which worried Minho if the older was eating well or not.

 

His dark hair fell in front of his forehead. But instead of the neatly combed style he usually adorned, his hair looked like he had just gotten out of bed and was slightly frizzy.

 

Minho noticed that Joon was nowhere nearby. He spotted the other teen sat in a table with some of the former student council members.

 

Minho's focus went back to Jinki, who was still looking at him with an unreadable expression, causing Minho's anxiety to rise.

 

"Jinki."

 

Minho's gaze occasionally flickered elsewhere, still having a hard time to meet his eyes.

 

Key had slowly slithered away to the edge of the table, ears occupied with headphones.

 

Jinki smiles weakly.

 

"Can we talk?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's weird to write this fic since I haven't touched it in a while. I mean, it's only been months since I last updated, but still...it felt like such a long time.
> 
> While I haven't been happy the past few months, I did feel super happy when I watched SS7 in Singapore! I finally got to see my ult bias, Donghae !!!! Damn I still feel so fucking euphoric when I think about SS7. 
> 
> On final note, I love you Kim Jonghyun, I miss you and I will never forget you. Poet | Artist and all your other works are masterpieces that I will treasure for a long time!
> 
> Okay sorry I'm getting a bit dramatic here but I really really miss him. 
> 
> Again, I hope you understand my decisions.

**Author's Note:**

> so some friendships here are unexpected ??? the reason for that is bc i was too lazy to change their ages and just went with their actual ages haha.
> 
> when i wrote this, i wasnt a big snsd fan as i am now, so sorry if some of them are rlly off :(


End file.
